US companies now three times more willing to hire remote workers anywhere in the US or internationally

With remote work becoming the new normal for many, more companies are now willing to not only hire remote workers, but to hire them from anywhere. More than one-third (36 percent) of companies say they are willing to hire 100 percent remote workers anywhere in the US (26 percent) or abroad (10 percent), according to a new survey of more than 300 HR executives primarily from large US companies. That’s up from just 12 percent before the pandemic. Overall, 88 percent of companies are now open to hiring remote workers, compared to 52 percent prepandemic; however, half still prefer that employees live within commuting distance to the office location.

Hiring remotely can both increase the potential talent pool and lower labor costs by allowing hiring in less expensive markets. This new willingness to hire remote workers could foretell a trend of shifting professional and office jobs to less expensive domestic or even offshore geographies. Moreover, this marked shift in sentiment could also attract prospective workers whose flexibility needs (for child or dependent care, for example) may once have kept them from applying.

For more HC COVID-19 survey results, see Adapting to the Reimagined Workplace: Human Capital Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.