After analyzing over a year's worth of data, our results showed that when the norm was to work in-office full-time, the ability to work from home 1-2 days per week led to the highest levels of performance.
Only 12% of workers want to work remotely every day. And when working remotely an optimal two to three times a week, employees' productivity and work quality are boosted by almost 20%.
The final verdict: choose your best day
If every day is essentially the same, and you only have one day a week to work remotely, Wednesdays are your best bet. If you have two days to work remotely per week, test out a Tuesday and Thursday schedule and see how it feels to space out your in-person days.
Bringing work home also does not allow you to mentally recover from a long day, which can lead to resentment, depression, hopelessness, and apathy in the workplace over time.
Wednesdays are the optimal WFH days
Choosing to work from home in the middle of the workweek may seem odd, but it provides an excellent balance and flow to your work schedule. Two days in the office, one productive day working remote, and two more days in the office to finish out the week.
While working from home on Monday or Friday makes it almost an extension of the weekend, a mid-week break from a long work commute can help people get more done. Wednesday might be the best day to take off work, but find out when to get bargains with the cheapest days of the week to do everything.
Employees often encounter bigger interruptions, miss more lunch hours, and put in longer days than they ever did back at the office. On average, remote workers clocked a whopping 16.8 more days a year than their office colleagues, which could be why almost a third of remote workers requested a mental health day.
Key Takeaways. Many remote workers feel they never stop working because they don't leave the workplace. Family members or others may provide distractions at home that you wouldn't get at work. Technology issues can be more of a problem when you're far from in-person support.
Commuting from home to work should be less than 50 miles and within 30 minutes, and the surrounding area of your workplace should be within 50 miles of your home. It is ideal for commuters to take at least 5 minutes to commute to work, and the one-way commute should take more than 16 minutes.
Thus, occupancy rates are increasing year-over-year, but they are still dramatically lower than they were pre-pandemic. But clearly, Fridays are the most popular WFH day of the week, with approximately 7 out of 10 workers not in the office that day.
Make your request as specific as possible. For example, if you say, “I want to work at home a few days a week,” your manager might think that one day a week is enough. Instead, give a specific schedule. “I want to work at home on Mondays and Wednesdays.”
But that's okay. If you want to achieve the perfect blend of productivity, happiness, and time affluence, a more realistic goal is to work slightly below 40 hours per week. The research shows that even shaving an hour or two off of the standard 40-hour workweek can have huge benefits, both at work and at home.
Working from home and working from office both have their own set of pros and cons. While work from home offers efficiency and avoids a long commute, office work provides a better environment for communication, collaboration and overall growth of one's career.
Remote work makes it easier to achieve a healthy work-life balance since employees can often tailor their schedules around their personal commitments. Balancing work and home obligations can be easier when you work from home and also allows more time to decompress throughout the day so you're more productive.
Loneliness. This is one of the biggest challenges of working remotely for employees and managers. Many people deal with loneliness in and out of the remote work context, especially after the pandemic. Regardless of what origins it is, loneliness can have a super strong influence on your health and life.
A hybrid workplace model mixes in-office and remote work to offer flexibility and support to employees. In a hybrid workplace, employees typically enjoy more autonomy and better work-life balance – and are more engaged as a result. Employers benefit by building a more productive, healthy, stable workforce.
"I really appreciate the flexibility that working from home offers. I am more creative and focused early in the morning. Being able to set my own hours allows me to do my most productive work for the company." "I understand your company prioritizes work-life balance and effectiveness, and I share those values.
One U.K. survey found that you need a day off at least every 62 days to avoid feelings of anxiety, aggression, and physical illness. And while you likely can—and must, due to work—go more than two months without a vacation, it's essential to remember what a respite does for your health.
Based on this research about half of the people around you could snap at any minute. You could be one of those people too. According to reports 62 days does seem to be the average limit when it comes to burn out in the workplace. That means about every three months, for your own good, you should take a personal day.
Only 14 percent of those surveyed feel the most work gets accomplished on Wednesday, with Thursday and Friday tied for the least productive days. Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps, said Mondays can be productive because many workers spend the day catching up from the previous week and planning the one ahead.