‘Work from anywhere’ jobs draw record demand as summer travel heats up

Summer travel has surged after three pandemic years. That red-hot demand has shown up in job seekers’ preferences, as thousands search for work that allows them to take long-awaited trips without spending all their paid time off.

According to a new report from job search platform Flexa, the share of job seekers expressing a preference for companies that offer some kind of “work from anywhere” program rose to 88% in June from 80% in April—the highest since the company began tracking last year. At the same time, the share expressing a preference for fully remote jobs rose to 59% from 52% over the same period.

Top financial services firms such as American Express, Visa and Mastercard, along with tech giants like Alphabet, are some of the major employers who have adopted “work from anywhere” week policies. This generally means employees keep an in-office presence for most of the year with two to four weeks of fully remote work.

Flexa analyzed more than 350,000 searches and the preferences expressed by more than 8,000 job seekers between April and June. Preferences are gathered through a survey that’s completed when job seekers create an account and are updated periodically.

While remote work’s broad popularity has proved enduring, the data suggest that employee demand for flexibility may be, to some extent, seasonal.

“We saw fully remote roles fall out of favor with job seekers last autumn, with demand dropping to an all-time low in December,” Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder and chief executive of Flexa, said in the report. “The reversal of this trend, which began in spring and has continued into the summer, highlights the seasonality behind demand for different working locations.”

As the labor market remains tight for many industries, businesses have offered remote and hybrid work and other benefits to draw and keep top talent. Even amid signs of a cooling economy, many workers are still prepared to quit for the promise of better pay and greater flexibility.

Companies that offer fully remote work and work-from-anywhere weeks draw a tremendous amount of interest from job seekers. Johnson-Jones said it’s not hard to see why: “This kind of flexibility allows employees to travel for extended periods without having to use up annual leave or take a cut in pay—a particularly appealing prospect during the warmer months.” That’s especially true in countries like the U.S., where after a year of service, private sector workers have just 11 days of paid vacation days on average.