Employees who worked from home or a remote office were less likely to receive pay raises this year compared with in-office workers, according to the findings of a new survey released by LinkedIn this week.
The survey, which weighed responses from more than 8,600 professional workers, found 59 percent of in-office employees received pay increases in 2024, compared with 56 percent of remote workers.
Sixty-four percent of hybrid employees — those who work in an office during some parts of the work week or month, then spend the rest of their time working from home or another location — received a pay raise in 2024, the survey found.
“The findings suggest hybrid work could be the preferred model for both employers who want workers in offices and employees who want to maintain some flexibility without sacrificing compensation in the wake of the pandemic,” wrote Rachel Cromidas, a news editor at LinkedIn.
It wasn’t clear from the LinkedIn survey why remote workers received fewer wages compared to in-office and hybrid workers, though some executives commented on the post that it might have something to do with the thinking by executives that remote workers have fewer job-related expenses associated with commuting and childcare, among other things.
The survey also comes at a time when executives are changing their attitude about remote work opportunities. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported 82 percent of Fortune 500-listed companies offered some remote work opportunities to their employees. But the number of companies demanding workers return to the office has increased over time, with executives feeling in-office attendance is better for communication, morale and work output.
A number of companies that operate in the media and entertainment sector — including Apple, Amazon, the Walt Disney Company and X (formerly Twitter) — have asked workers to return to the office in some capacity this year, if not on a full-time basis.
In September, a survey conducted by KPMG found nearly 80 percent of CEOs expected workers to return to offices on a full-time basis within the next 36 months, compared with just under 40 percent of CEOs who said the same in April.
Hybrid opportunities are still something of a consideration, with nearly 50 percent of CEOs saying in September they expect a combination of in-office attendance and work-from-home situations to be the norm over the next three years, compared with just under 20 percent who said the same five months earlier.
