Why remote workers are the happiest, despite being underpaid

Employees working from home may be making less money than their hybrid and in-person counterparts, but they've unlocked a different kind of wealth — workplace satisfaction. 

Remote workers were found to be the least likely to receive promotions and raises, compared to hybrid or in-person workers, according to a recent report from resume template and career advice platform, ResumeBuilder. In the cases where remote workers did receive compensation boosts, they were at lower rates when compared to what other groups receive. But as it turns out, a bigger paycheck isn't what's keeping these workers content. 

"When you're working remotely, you're often already taking home more money than your colleague who's going into the office every day," says Stacie Haller, chief career adviser at ResumeBuilder. "You're not paying for commuting costs, you're eating cheaper lunches and you don't have to pay the same for a pet sitter or childcare. So that does offset the cost." 

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Financial technicalities aside, of the 1,190 full-time employees surveyed, those who work fully in-office are the most likely to report poor mental health, high stress, poor work-life balance and lack of happiness at their current job. On the contrary, remote and hybrid workers were more likely to report better mental health, less stress, greater work-life balance and more happiness at their current job.

"Employees may be choosing hybrid and in-person positions because they want that promotion," Haller says. "But at the same time, they're seeing their colleagues work from home, taking care of their physical and mental health, having more of a work-life balance than they do. So while it's a trade off they're making, it's not making them happy."

As a result, ResumeBuilder's report also found that 52% of fully in-office workers will look for a new job next year, followed by 43% of hybrid workers and 36% of remote workers. Additionally, only 35% of fully in-office workers say they like their current work location arrangement, while 69% of hybrid workers and 92% of remote workers say the same. In fact, a recent LinkedIn survey found that 45% of employees would take  a 10% pay cut in exchange for enhanced remote work flexibility. 

While those statistics haven't done much to slow the rollout of current return-to-office mandates, Haller predicts that the younger generation may be the key to change.

Read more: The hybrid work experiment is failing everyone

"The current generation doesn't know how to run an organization any other way," she says. "But after the younger managers climb the ranks, it will no no longer be a tug of war [between flexibility and compensation]. The younger folks understand that some people work great remotely and some people like to be in the office and that both are fine."

In the meantime, what employees want is to be heard, Haller says. The companies that are dedicated to listening will see not only the best retention in the coming years, but recruiting opportunities as they adapt to the workforce's needs. This may look like letting individual teams figure out together when and if they want to come into the office, or doing company-wide surveys and research into what kind of setup drives the most engagement and productivity.  

"Companies shouldn't want to be seen as old school or old world," Haller says. "But we're talking about changing a huge paradigm and that doesn't happen overnight."