Remote Workers Earn About $22,000 Less on Average than In-Person Roles, Survey Finds

As managements mandate return to office, most remote workers are overcome with resentment. However, new data from ZipRecruiter showed that those who work from office earn significantly more compared to workers who work from home. This shift is a result of employers' efforts to bring back employees to offices by offering them higher remuneration.

In 2023, the average in-office salary advertised in job postings was $59,085. However, now American companies are offering higher paychecks to people willing to return to offices this year, with job postings having an average of $82,037 for in-person positions—a 33% increase in income. Furthermore, the data revealed that the employees prefer working on a hybrid model, going into the office for a few days and staying at home for the rest of the week.

According to the data, a hybrid worker's average wage is $59,992 which is close to $22,000 lower than someone who has an in-person role. 

The survey also revealed that workers who have moved from fully remote work to being in-office full-time got a 29.2% raise. Companies are also offering more money to in-office workers as a way to compensate for the loss of flexibility. As per the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, Julia Pollak, "Employers who cannot compete on flexibility will have to compete more aggressively on pay." The conclusion is that people demand higher pay increases for fully in-office jobs," she added.

After the pandemic, employees have become extremely comfortable with the newfound freedom that comes with work-from-home. Many workers are now placing a premium on this freedom while more traditional employers think that people are more productive when they work in office setups. 

"Among some employers, there can be a perception that remote workers are less productive," Pollak said, adding that many bosses want people back in the office because they’re "psychologically and financially invested in their corporate real estate." Meanwhile, employers and HR professionals expressed their struggle to retain employees, with 19% calling it a major problem while the other 54% of HR representatives said that it is a minor problem. 

"Once workers discovered that (remote work could be) less expensive and… make their life a little easier, they just wanted to keep doing it, even once the pandemic began fading away," Marjorie Connelly, a senior fellow with NORC’s Public Affairs & Media Research department, told The Associated Press, via Fortune.

The top reasons that dictate employees' choice to work from home remain the prioritization of flexibility and work-life balance and therefore, higher compensation and better office equipment can be the only way to get them to return to offices.  However, as mentioned, flexibility remains the top criterion for employees.

Bill Castellano, a professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations tells Fortune that companies that offer flexibility will be the ones who retain employees in this scenario. "Employees value more of when to do work vs. where to do work," Castellano told Fortune.