Remote jobs becoming fewer and farther between

(WHTM) — Do you work remotely? Even if it’s just a couple of days a week? Fewer companies are offering those jobs this year.

They were the best thing to come out of the pandemic.

But four years later, fewer and fewer companies are offering remote work as a full-time option.

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Local Business Beat

So what can you do?

Keri Shinault started working from home when the pandemic hit, and never wants to return to the daily commute.

“It was two hours a day,” Shinault said. “It was a disaster.”

Not having a brutal commute gives her more time to spend with her children and at her hobby, painting.

“It is flexible, and I have the ability to have a much better balance than I’ve ever had,” Shinault said.

But remote jobs like hers are getting harder and harder to find now in 2024.

Forbes Magazine says its finding 23% fewer listings for full-time remote work than in the Spring of 2023.

Instead, many companies have shifted to hybrid work, with four days in the office and one or two days each week at home.

Even some school districts are moving to a four day school week, with Mondays remote.

Superintendent Eugene Blalock says teachers and students love what they’ve done.

“My teachers have been reignited,” Blalock said. “It’s been interesting as I talk to them as I walk around.”

With fewer full-time remote jobs this year, employment attorney Kelly Myers says search instead for hybrid jobs.

“Come to your employer with why working from home is good for the company and good for you,” Myers said. “Make it a win-win.

The site Flex Jobs lists companies still hiring remote workers in 2024. They include:

  • Working Solutions

  • LiveOps

  • CVS Health

  • Kelly Services

  • UnitedHealth Group

  • Zillow.

So, if you are like Keri Shinault and love at least a few days at home, you should still be able to find a remote or hybrid job this year.

But the competition for fully remote jobs is tougher now: Forbes says twice as many people are looking for remote work as there are job listings.

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