Remote Jobs Are Becoming More Popular Than Ever

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The pandemic forced millions of Americans to work from home, and even though corporations now have some employees coming back to the office, remote jobs are becoming more popular than ever.

Amanda Miller can literally roll out of bed and start working. In 2020, her corporate office was shut down and she was sent home.

"I think like anybody, it was a bit of an adjustment," Miller says.

But she quickly adjusted to a life without commuting.

"I was able to do all sorts of things I didn't have the opportunity to do before, like, you know, volunteering at my kids' school. I can do that regularly. Working from home, you have the opportunity to concentrate and be more focused in a way that you naturally can't in an office when there's noise," Miller says.

Miller works for Dropbox, one of several tech companies that's moved to remote work. Eric Trickett, a vice president at the company, says every employee has the option of working remotely. He says the policy has helped retain current employees and recruit new ones.

"Not only has this allowed us to tap into a lot more geographically distributed talent pools, but it's also really being able to see a huge uptick in just the overall interest in Dropbox. So, our applicant volume nearly doubled year over year," Trickett says.

Many other companies are seeing similar results. On the job site Indeed.com, 9.8% of postings from February 2022 are for remote workers. That's more than triple the amount from before the pandemic, which was 2.9% in January 2020.

A new poll from Morning Consult shows 82% of virtual employees enjoy working remotely.

"I can use my time more efficiently and more effectively. I think my work quality is increased," Miller says.

She and the others at Dropbox still occasionally meet in person with co-workers to collaborate at designated offices.

But at-home work is here to stay.