Half of at-home workers say they’d like to keep arrangement after pandemic: survey

A survey from Pew Research Center published Wednesday found that more than half of Americans working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic would like to keep that arrangement.

Of the 71 percent of respondents currently doing their jobs from home all or most of the time, 54 precent said that they would want to keep it that way after the pandemic if given the choice, the survey found.

The survey also found that 64 percent of those working from home said their workplace is closed or unavailable, and a majority said they would feel uncomfortable returning if it were to reopen in the next month.

Sixty percent of those opting to work from home cite preference as a major reason, and 57 percent cited possible coronavirus exposure.

The coronavirus pandemic forced many businesses to shutter and others to go online, with many Americans working from home as a result. Some companies have offered permanent work-from-home options, with experts warning that changes for businesses during the pandemic could have lasting affects on offices.

However, Pew’s survey found that 62 percent said that their jobs cannot be done from home.

The survey also found that employed adults with higher income and education levels are most likely to say they can work from home.

There have been more than 15 million coronavirus cases in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University, and over 286,000 people have died.

Pew’s analysis was based on 5,858 employed adults who have one job or have multiple jobs but consider one as their primary. It was conducted as part of a larger survey of 10,332 adults between Oct. 13-19 with an overall margin of error of 1.6 percentage points.