Computer usage has declined among adults across many countries as an increasing number rely on their smartphones for activities from shopping to checking email. To the extent active computer penetration rates have been sustained, they have been supported mostly by older adults in Germany, Japan, and the US. In the UK and China, the age gap is less pronounced.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online adults who actively use a home computer, employer-provided computer, or any other computer such as one owned by a cybercafé, school, or library. The results are split by country and age category. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0228_agpt] in TUP Lenses: Devices; PCs; User Profile
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Many more workers use a home PC than a work PC, although the trend in some countries is that some medium-sized and larger employers are providing computers. Even as home PC usage continues its decline, employed home computer users still far outnumber work PC employees.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of US, German, UK, Japanese, and Chinese workers who use a home PC and an employer PC, split by employer size. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0214_hwpt] in TUP Lenses: PCs; Work/Life Balance; User Profile
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Worldwide, older workers express less likelihood of working remotely within a year’s time. Half or more of workers aged 40 and up in the UK and Germany do not expect to be working remotely in one year. Among younger adults in the UK and Germany, the share is closer to 40%. In all countries surveyed except Japan, younger adults have a lower share that do not expect to be working remotely in one year.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of working online adults– full-time, part-time, or self-employed– who do not expect to be working remotely in one year. These results are based on responses from 7,842 online adult workers in the US, Germany, UK, Japan, and China. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0209_owfh] in TUP Lenses: User Profile; Work/Life Balance
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With the onset of the pandemic, there were many divisions between those who worked remotely and those who never worked remotely. One distinguishing characteristic was the employee’s age, although this factor is associated with many other socioeconomic characteristics. From a broad under-40 and 40-plus perspective, employees further along and in more information-oriented professions had higher remote working rates, while younger adults starting their careers had lower rates.
Since 2021, the age gap between remote and non-remote employees has narrowed in most of the countries surveyed—the US, Germany, the UK, and Japan.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of employees who never work remotely by country and age group (18 to 39 and 40+), detailing the trend from 2021 to 2023. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0206_wfht] in TUP Lenses: User Profile; Work/Life Balance
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 4, 2024
Summary
The practice of working across the web using collaborative platforms such as Google Docs has remained largely unchanged since 2018. Among millennials in China and the US, the activity has even decreased. Gen Z adults across most countries surveyed have the highest or second-highest penetration rates.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online adults who regularly collaborate on work files in the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, and China split by age generation.
Collaborating on work files has only crept into later generations
There’s a corporate motivational statement: Teamwork makes the dream work. Gen Z adults in the UK and Germany appear to be taking this more to heart than earlier generations
The regular use of collaborative platforms has not substantially changed since 2018, except for nominal growth in Germany and China’s Gen Z and Gen X adults
In the US, Japan, and China, Gen Z adults are just as likely or less likely than millennials to have the highest shares of those regularly using collaborative platforms for work-related files
Across all countries surveyed, the Boomer/Silent generations have the lowest levels of work file collaboration
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 1, 2024
Summary
Even before the pandemic, working remotely has been a mixed blessing for IT staff. While many employees in the information technology industry are able to work remotely and support geographically dispersed organizations, many have historically needed to work well beyond the confines of a 40-hour workweek or 9 to 5 schedule. Similarly, many workers in real estate and other professions have experienced the benefits that come with pitfalls. With the onset of the pandemic, the gap has become clearer between employees in these industries and the average worker.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of employees in the IT/FIRE/Professional industries who work remotely at least some of the time, and contrasts their share with the national averages in the US, Germany, UK, Japan, and China.
Industries apart when it comes to remote work
Employees in the IT/FIRE/Professional industries have consistently higher rates of working remotely than the national averages
The gap for remote workers in these industries is exceptionally wide across most countries surveyed, except in China which has maintained the highest national remote working rate
In Japan, as remote work dropped to nearly one-third of employed adults, the rate continues to hover around two-thirds within these industries
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 29, 2024
Summary
Remote workers make up nearly half of online workers in the US, Germany, and the UK. In Japan, remote working rates are lower, and among China’s socioeconomically elite online workers, the rates are higher. Smaller employers generally have the highest percentage of workers working remotely, although the pattern is not significantly different among medium and large employers. Remote working rates in 2023 are slightly lower in 2023 than in 2022, although not substantially so.
This MetaFAQs reports on the number of online adults working remotely in the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, and China, split by the employer’s size.
Remote working trends by country for employers of all sizes
Following the onset of the Covid pandemic, remote working has become the norm for working adults in most countries surveyed
In the US and the UK, the percentage of workers working remotely has dropped slowly to approach the halfway mark
In Germany, remote working peaked in 2021 and has since declined
In Japan, remote work also peaked in 2021, although it has never reached the levels in other countries surveyed
The socioeconomically elite adults surveyed strongly increased remote work to a peak in 2022, which has since subsided slightly
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More workers use a home computer for work than use an employer-provided computer. With the onset of the pandemic, employees and employers alike suddenly scrambled for ways to get their work done. For many employees, especially knowledge workers, having access to a computer is vital. However, not all employers have supported remote workers by providing a computer, and instead have relied on employees using their home computers. Currently, in all countries surveyed except for the UK, more workers use a home PC for work-related activities than use a work computer.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of remote workers and non-remote workers who use a home computer for work-related activities or use an employer-provided PC, across the US, Germany, UK, Japan, and China. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0129_hwpc] in TUP Lenses: PCs; Activities; Work/Life Balance
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Computers such as Apple Macs, those running Microsoft Windows or ChromeOS are being used by most online adults worldwide, although penetration rates vary by age group within countries. In the US and Japan, computer users skew older. In the UK and China, computer users skew somewhat younger, although not strongest among adults aged 18 to 24. Instead, a growing group of online adults rely on smartphones for everyday activities and turn to computers for a declining subset of things they regularly do.
This MetaFAQ reports on the percentage of online adults who actively use a computer that they acquired with personal funds (a home computer), one provided by an employer (work/self-employed), or from someone else (a school, library, government, neighbor, or other). Report [TUP_doc_2024_0115_agpc] in TUP Lenses: Devices; PCs; User Profile
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The rapid spread of the pandemic caught many employers and employees by surprise. Most were unprepared to work remotely and many were uncertain how long they might be working remotely. Consequently, many workers simply used their personally-owned home computers to get work done. Although 2020 saw high levels of home PC use for work which then shrunk markedly in 2021, we’re now seeing a return to broad home PC use for work. Using a home PC for work activities is a widespread practice, even among workers who may have an employer-provided PC available to them when they are in the workplace. Although work email is a major activity for home PCs, there is a long list of work activities regularly done by many remote workers.
This MetaFAQ reports on the percentage of remote workers and workers who never work remotely that use a home computer for work-related activities. This is split by country. Further, this report details the list of work-related activities that remote workers regularly do with their home PC. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0113_hwrt] in TUP Lenses: PCs; User Profile; Households; Activities; Work/Life Balance
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used with a generative AI system without separate licensing and express written permission. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.