Home on the Range

Ever since Covid, a major bone of contention in the workforce is where one is required to actually do the work. Today’s online, digital, wi-fi world enables employees to work from anywhere – home or in the office. At the beginning of the pandemic, tens of thousands of workers cinched up their pajamas and went to work at home.

That was then

Over the past few years as the Covid catastrophe has wound down, more and more employers are saying that it’s time for all good workers to button up and get their behinds back into the office. The employees, on the other hand, mostly are saying that they like it here, home on the range. Workforce website founderreports.com which focuses on the human side of building a business, found that 22.6 percent of U.S. employees worked remotely in March 2026, down only slightly from 23 percent in March 2024.

More than half of workers enjoy hybrid roles — 53.1 percent of employees work from home at least sometimes. Most work in the office three days a week (typically Tuesday through Thursday) and work from home the other two days. Roughly two-thirds of companies offer some kind of hybrid work plan. From the other perspective, 67 percent of remote workers would quit or start looking for another position if their employers demanded a full-time RTO (return to the office.) Is it any wonder then that three-fourths of companies experience greater employee retention by allowing remote work?

All that and yet three out of eight employers enforce office attendance. Reports show that Asia has the highest RTO rates standing at 80 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, the west coast of the U.S. has the lowest RTO rate of about 30 percent.

Another compelling statistic while the RTO debate continues, is that office vacancies stand currently at approximately 21 percent. From that we can conclude that the real estate people continue to be right when they say, “Location. Location. Location.” The only difference now is they’re talking about where people work. (339)

“We are all serving a life sentence, and good behavior is our only hope for a pardon.” — Douglas Horton, an American clergyman and academic leader