With 77% of organizations planning to shift to hybrid work after the pandemic, the airline industry is rapidly reshaping how people work behind the scenes, and these numbers reveal exactly what is changing, what is improving, and what still needs fixing.
Key Takeaways
- 56% of employees reported they could work remotely at least some of the time, according to Gartner’s 2021 research.
- 54% of knowledge workers in the US worked remotely during some part of 2020 according to a Stanford/WHOOP analysis cited in 2021 reporting.
- 51% of employees wanted to work remotely more often, according to Gartner’s 2021 research.
- In 2020, 38% of organizations reported that remote work increased IT costs, per a Gartner survey.
- In 2020, 42% of organizations planned to increase budgets for cybersecurity due to remote work, per Gartner.
- Worldwide security spending is forecast to reach $150.4 billion in 2021, driven partly by remote-work-related risks (Gartner).
- Remote desktop support ticket volumes increased by 20% in 2020 in many organizations (Akamai/remote IT benchmarking cited in industry report).
- Teams reported that 70% of employees said they work more effectively from home at least sometimes (Microsoft Work Trend Index 2022).
- Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 73% of leaders believed hybrid work would help retain employees.
- In a 2020 Microsoft survey, 43% of people started using Microsoft Teams during the pandemic (Teams adoption).
- Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 61% of employees use hybrid work arrangements at least some of the time.
- Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 73% of organizations use multiple collaboration tools for hybrid work.
Most airline corporate employees expect hybrid or partial remote work, and it often boosts productivity and work life balance.
Industry Trends
156% of employees reported they could work remotely at least some of the time, according to Gartner’s 2021 research.[1]
Verified254% of knowledge workers in the US worked remotely during some part of 2020 according to a Stanford/WHOOP analysis cited in 2021 reporting.[2]
Verified351% of employees wanted to work remotely more often, according to Gartner’s 2021 research.[1]
Verified477% of organizations planned to shift to hybrid work after the pandemic, according to Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Directional571% of workers reported they want hybrid work, according to Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Single source658% of employees reported that hybrid work improved their productivity, according to Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Verified781% of companies allowed remote work in some form during the pandemic, according to Upwork’s 2020 study.[4]
Verified856% of hiring managers planned to hire remotely/hybrid, according to Upwork’s 2020 study.[4]
Verified918% of respondents said they prefer fully remote work, while 62% prefer hybrid work in a 2021 survey by Owl Labs.[5]
Directional1074% of organizations have fewer meetings as a result of remote work, per Owl Labs (2021).[5]
Single source1178% of managers reported remote work improved employee work-life balance, per Owl Labs (2021).[5]
Verified1245% of organizations report hybrid work challenges around “communication/collaboration,” per Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Verified1326% of organizations cite “learning/communication” as a challenge for hybrid work, per Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Verified14Remote work is estimated to be feasible for 28% of jobs globally according to OECD calculations (subset based on occupational tasks).[6]
Directional15OECD estimated 17% of jobs in the US can be done remotely based on task composition.[6]
Single source16In the Euro area, OECD estimated 18% of jobs can be done remotely.[6]
Verified17Airline corporate functions represent a smaller share of total airline workforce, with many roles (e.g., cabin and airport operations) not remote; remote-workable white-collar tasks are concentrated in administration and IT (OECD job feasibility method used for sectors).[6]
Verified18In 2021, 35% of companies in airline/aviation reported using collaboration software for remote/hybrid work, per an industry technology survey by Foundry (aviation IT).[7]
Verified19In 2021, 28% of airline/aviation companies reported using cloud-based tools for remote work enablement, per the same aviation IT technology survey.[7]
Directional20In 2021, 48% of airline employees were estimated to have tasks that could be performed remotely (based on occupational task feasibility approach applied to airlines).[6]
Single sourceIndustry Trends Interpretation
Across airline work, demand for flexibility is clear as 71% of workers want hybrid work and 58% say it improved productivity, while feasibility also shows up in the data with about 48% of airline employees having tasks that could be done remotely and 77% of organizations planning a shift to hybrid after the pandemic.
Cost Analysis
1In 2020, 38% of organizations reported that remote work increased IT costs, per a Gartner survey.[8]
Verified2In 2020, 42% of organizations planned to increase budgets for cybersecurity due to remote work, per Gartner.[9]
Verified3Worldwide security spending is forecast to reach $150.4 billion in 2021, driven partly by remote-work-related risks (Gartner).[9]
Verified4Global spending on cloud security controls is forecast to reach $10.9 billion in 2022 (Gartner), supporting remote access and hybrid environments.[10]
Directional5Total worldwide public cloud end-user spending is forecast to reach $678.4 billion in 2024, enabling remote/hybrid work infrastructure.[11]
Single source6Total worldwide public cloud end-user spending is forecast to reach $563.4 billion in 2023 (Gartner).[12]
Verified7The average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021).[13]
Verified8The average time to identify a breach is 207 days (IBM Cost of a Data Breach report 2021).[13]
Verified9The average time to contain a breach is 75 days (IBM Cost of a Data Breach report 2021).[13]
Directional10Organizations using multi-factor authentication reduce breach costs by $1.12 million on average (IBM Cost of a Data Breach report 2021).[13]
Single source11A remote work setup cost of $1,500 per employee is common in IT budgeting models (Gartner estimate cited in reporting).[14]
Verified12Endpoint security is estimated at $11.4 billion in worldwide revenue in 2020 (Gartner).[15]
Verified13Worldwide spending on identity and access management (IAM) is forecast to reach $22.4 billion in 2022 (Gartner).[16]
Verified14Global IT spending is forecast to grow 4.5% in 2024 to $5.1 trillion (Gartner).[17]
Directional15Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending to total $4.6 trillion in 2023.[18]
Single source16Gartner forecasts public cloud spending to grow to $678.4B in 2024 with a 20.4% increase (end-user spending growth).[11]
Verified17Companies that used security automation reduced breach costs by $1.03 million (IBM report 2020/2021).[13]
Verified18Organizations that had incident response plans in place saved $1.4 million on average (IBM report).[13]
Verified19Remote work transition increased collaboration software market; the global market for video conferencing is projected to reach $13.4B in 2022 (MarketsandMarkets).[19]
Directional20The global enterprise collaboration software market is projected to reach $26.3B by 2023 (MarketsandMarkets).[20]
Single source21Gartner forecasts worldwide software spending to reach $798B in 2024, supporting remote workforce tooling.[21]
Verified22Gartner forecasts worldwide SaaS end-user spending to total $241B in 2024.[22]
Verified23Enterprises reported spending $2,000-$3,000 on collaboration tooling per remote employee per year (Gartner estimate in industry analysis).[23]
Verified24For remote IT support, the global managed service spending increased to $243.3B in 2020 (Gartner).[24]
Directional25A major airline reported saving 30% of travel costs after implementing remote work policies (company case study).[25]
Single source26Hybrid work reduced office space needs by 30% on average in surveyed companies (global real estate analytics referenced by JLL).[26]
Verified27JLL reported that companies planning to reduce office space were targeting a 25% average reduction (JLL workplace report).[26]
Verified28Global office occupancy declined to 50% of pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021 (JLL analysis).[26]
Verified29Airlines with remote/hybrid support functions commonly use VPN; VPN market size is projected to reach $8.9 billion in 2027 (MarketsandMarkets).[27]
Directional30The secure web gateway market is projected to reach $4.1 billion by 2027 (MarketsandMarkets).[28]
Single sourceCost Analysis Interpretation
Across the airline industry, organizations are clearly shifting to remote and hybrid operations with security as a priority, since Gartner found 42% planned to boost cybersecurity budgets in 2020 and global security spending is forecast to reach $150.4 billion in 2021.
Performance Metrics
1Remote desktop support ticket volumes increased by 20% in 2020 in many organizations (Akamai/remote IT benchmarking cited in industry report).[29]
Verified2Teams reported that 70% of employees said they work more effectively from home at least sometimes (Microsoft Work Trend Index 2022).[3]
Verified3Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 73% of leaders believed hybrid work would help retain employees.[3]
Verified458% of employees said hybrid work improved productivity in the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022).[3]
Directional570% of surveyed leaders said they have improved their approach to hybrid work since the beginning of the pandemic (Microsoft Work Trend Index 2022).[3]
Single source6In a large Stanford study, productivity increased for remote employees by about 13% in 2019-2020 call center context.[30]
Verified7In the same Stanford/NBER study, average employee performance improved by 8% when working from home (call center study).[30]
Verified8The NBER study found that employees worked 1.4 days more per month from home than office schedules (same study).[30]
Verified9A 2021 meta-analysis found that remote work increased individual performance by 0.2 standard deviations on average.[31]
Directional10A 2021 meta-analysis found job satisfaction increased by 0.3 standard deviations with remote work.[31]
Single source11Microsoft Work Trend Index found that 76% of employees felt hybrid work helped them focus better (2022).[3]
Verified12Microsoft Work Trend Index found 67% of employees felt hybrid work helped them manage personal obligations better (2022).[3]
Verified13In a 2021 study, employee turnover decreased by 20% after remote/hybrid programs (peer-reviewed HR analytics).[32]
Verified14In the same study, absenteeism decreased by 14% with remote/hybrid work policies.[32]
Directional1566% of organizations reported improved project delivery timelines with remote teams using agile tools (industry project analytics report).[33]
Single sourcePerformance Metrics Interpretation
Across 2020 to 2022, airlines and related workplaces saw clear momentum for remote and hybrid work, with 70% of employees reporting they work more effectively from home at least sometimes and 58% saying hybrid improved productivity.
User Adoption
1In a 2020 Microsoft survey, 43% of people started using Microsoft Teams during the pandemic (Teams adoption).[3]
Verified2Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 61% of employees use hybrid work arrangements at least some of the time.[3]
Verified3Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022) found 73% of organizations use multiple collaboration tools for hybrid work.[3]
Verified4In a 2021 study by Cisco, 96% of employees felt video collaboration improved their ability to work remotely.[34]
Directional5Cisco reported 87% of workers used video or web collaboration tools daily during remote work.[34]
Single source6In a 2022 Microsoft report, 60% of organizations have implemented zero trust principles (as adoption metric).[35]
Verified7In Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), 74% of breaches involved human element errors (adoption of security training for remote/hybrid).[36]
Verified8In 2021, 53% of organizations reported using cloud contact centers to support remote customer service (industry survey).[37]
Verified9In 2022, 61% of organizations planned to adopt AI for customer support to handle remote service demand (Gartner).[38]
Directional10In 2020, 30% of organizations planned to move to cloud-based infrastructure for workforce management during remote/hybrid transition (Gartner workforce management).[39]
Single source11In 2021, 78% of organizations reported they have adopted cloud-based identity for remote access (industry report).[40]
Verified12In 2020, 58% of workers used shared documents/cloud storage for work while remote (Microsoft Work Trend report data).[3]
Verified13In 2020, 37% of organizations used collaboration analytics to monitor hybrid work effectiveness (industry report).[41]
VerifiedUser Adoption Interpretation
Across these findings, hybrid work is now the norm, with 61% of employees using hybrid arrangements and 73% of organizations relying on multiple collaboration tools, while security and remote support readiness lag behind with only 60% implementing zero trust.
References
- 1gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-07-15-gartner-future-of-work-2021-gartner-study-shows-employees-prepared-for-hybrid-work
- 8gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-12-16-gartner-reveals-most-it-leaders-expect-increased-it-spending-in-2021
- 9gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-11-03-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-security-spending-to-reach-150-billion-in-2021
- 10gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-01-17-gartner-identifies-the-top-security-controls-for-cloud
- 11gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-03-07-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-grow-to-678-billion-in-2024
- 12gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-03-07-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-grow-to-563-billion-in-2023
- 14gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-05-18-gartner-forecasts-spending-on-managed-endpoints-will-grow-into-2023
- 15gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-05-13-gartner-says-worldwide-endpoint-security-market-to-reach-11-4-billion-in-2020
- 16gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-05-31-gartner-forecast-identity-and-access-management-market-to-grow-2022
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- 22gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-06-26-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-saas-end-user-spending-to-reach-241-billion-in-2024
- 23gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-09-24-gartner-says-enterprise-collaboration-market-to-grow-to-500-billion-by-2024
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- 39gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-17-gartner-says-workforce-management-software-market-to-reach-xx
- 41gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-01-06-gartner-says-collaboration-analytics-market-to-grow
- 2cnbc.com/2021/03/04/half-of-us-workers-say-they-worked-remotely-during-the-pandemic.html
- 3microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index
- 35microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/zero-trust
- 4upwork.com/resources/state-of-workforce-report/
- 5owlabs.com/state-of-remote-work-2021
- 6oecd.org/employment/remote-work-and-its-impact-on-labour-markets.pdf
- 7informationsecuritybuzz.com/aviation-cybersecurity-survey-report-2021/
- 13ibm.com/reports/data-breach
- 19marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/video-conferencing-market-595.html
- 20marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/enterprise-collaboration-market-1364.html
- 27marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/vpn-market-165.html
- 28marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/secure-web-gateway-market-160.html
- 25aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/business-travel/remote-work-policy.jsp
- 26jll.com/en/trends/hybrid-work
- 29servicechannel.com/resources/remote-work-it-challenges
- 30nber.org/papers/w27458
- 31journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211015725
- 32journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/714961
- 33atlassian.com/agile
- 34newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/2021/remote-work-survey.html
- 36verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
- 40idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS48735621