With stay-at-home regulations, physical distancing and quarantine measures in place, the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) conducted a brief consumer research study to explore who is working from home and how time is being spent in these at-home “offices.”
Exclusive data was collected by a Wakefield Research survey of 1,000 U.S. office professionals, age 18 or older, between March 27 and April 8, 2020, using an email invitation and an online survey. The results indicate:
- Approximately 74 percent of American office professionals are working from home due to COVID-19. This includes about 80 percent of professional men and 67 percent of professional women.
- 49 percent of Americans working from home are under a workplace mandate; 16 percent are following a company recommendation; and 13 percent are abiding by a state-level mandate. Additionally, 3 percent elected to work from home on their own accord, and 3 percent worked from home before the COVID-19 outbreak.
- 23 percent of office professionals are not working from home.
- Millennials are most commonly working from home (83 percent), followed by Gen X (72 percent) and Boomers (65 percent).
- Since they began working from home, 67 percent of the respondents said they are watching more TV or streaming movies, 59 percent are spending more time with family, and 48 percent are cooking more frequently.
- 48 percent of Americans are doing more household chores, 44 percent are working more, 38 percent are playing more games, 38 percent are reading more, 37 percent are sleeping more, and 18 percent say they are gardening more.
- Men are more likely than women to say they are spending more time with family (63 percent vs. 53 percent) and playing games (42 percent vs. 32 percent).
- Women are more likely than men to say they are cooking more often than men (60 percent vs. 40 percent) and doing household chores (54 percent vs. 44 percent).
- Of those who are working from home due to COVID-19, 47 percent have a separate room or office in which to work. 24 percent work in more than one place within the home.
- Men are more likely than women to have a separate room in which to work (53 percent vs. 38 percent).
- Other common at-home workplaces include bedrooms (28 percent), dining rooms (24 percent), kitchens (12 percent), basements (10 percent), sunrooms or screened-in porches (6 percent) and garages (3 percent).
- Of those who are working from home due to COVID-19 but do not live alone, 41 percent do not share their workspace with any other member of their household.
- Among U.S. office professionals currently working from home due to COVID-19 and living with others, 38 percent share workspaces with one other person, 14 percent share with two people and 7 percent share with three people or more.