By Amanda Kavanagh
Some of the best states to work remotely are lying on a sun lounger or swinging on a hammock – ideally with a cold beverage in hand. But what about actual geographical U.S. states?
Overall, it found that industries like tech, financial services and media are the heaviest adopters of hybrid and remote work, while smaller companies tend to lean toward fully-flexible models, and larger organizations are more likely to opt for a structured hybrid approach.
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Flexible industries
Interestingly, insurance is the second most flexible industry, behind tech; Just 7% of insurance firms require full-time, in-office attendance.
Media and entertainment come in third, with 93% of companies offering work location flexibility. This falls to 89% for telecommunications in fourth place, and 88% for financial services in fifth place, though still a respectable percent by any measure.
Conversely, the majority of full-time in–office jobs are still in sectors that depend on face-to-face interactions or in-person sales, such as retail, hospitality, education, and restaurants and food services.
West is best
Western states are the biggest adopters of fully-flexible work, with 44% of firms offering full flexibility, and 37% offering structured hybrid.
For clarity, a structured-hybrid setup can mean different things, from a set minimum days in the office each week, to specific in-office days, and even a minimum percentage of time employees must work from the office.
While just 39% of firms in the Northeast offer complete flexibility, this region has the largest percentage of employers giving work location flexibility overall, when structured hybrid is included too.
The Midwest comes in third with 34% allowing for fully flexible, and 45% allowing structured-hybrid.
And lastly, the South requires the most full in-office attendance (22%), and has the lowest percentage of firms giving employees full flexibility (34%).
On a state-by-state comparison, Massachusetts pips Washington at the post as the state with the greatest flexibility, with only a percentage separating them (91% v 90%).
These are followed by Colorado and California (both 89%), Oregon, New York, Utah and Hawaii (all 88%), then Illinois and Connecticut (both 87%).
The least flexible state is Mississippi, where 41% of companies are full-time in-office, but this drops sharply after when West Virginia nabs second spot for least flexible with 29%. In joint third-worst are Arkansas and Kansas (both 28%), and New Mexico lands fifth place with 27%.
After that, Alaska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Iowa and Alabama rank the lowest with 25%-22% of companies mandating full-time in-office attendance.
It is noteworthy that the Northeast contains three of the top ten states for flexible work. However, the West is well-represented, with Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon all ranking close to the top.
All states have seen a decrease in the number of firms requiring full-time in-office work over the last 15 months.
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City considerations
The top ten metro areas for flexibility are, in order, San Jose, San Fran, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Seattle, Trenton, Denver, Bridgeport, and New York. There is just a 5% difference between the top and the tenth place metro area for remote working.
Typically, areas with a high cost of living offer greater location flexibility. This is because technology, finance, and professional services firms are typically located in big cities, and commuting can be a real employee pain point.
In general, the U.S. is gradually shifting away from full-time in-office work patterns and towards hybrid work models.
Corporate employees are now required to work full-time in offices by just 31% of businesses, down from 49% five quarters ago, and 35% one quarter ago, a significant change in a relatively short amount of time.
For remote workers in the financial services sector, particular states do show trends in how they support diverse working models, and this is always evolving.
However, when job hunting it's important to suss the company's commitment to flexible working from the get-go.
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