Remote Work Is Here to Stay

More than three years after pandemic shutdowns forced employers and employees to shift toward remote work if they could, it seems that for a portion of working Californians, remote and hybrid work is here to stay. According to the November 2023 Public Policy Institute of California Statewide Survey, 14 percent of Californians say they work remotely all of the time, 21 percent are working in a mix of some work from home and some outside the home at the workplace, and 61 percent say they are working exclusively in person at the workplace. These shares have not changed much since November 2021—about 18 months into the pandemic. Today, two in three Californians who work remotely at least part of the time say they started working at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is impossible to say whether or not organizations and employers will change their remote and hybrid work policies in the future, current levels of flexibility probably contribute to many Californians’ positive opinions about their jobs.