After the success of our 2015 Year-End Telecommuting Report, we decided it’s time to check in on telecommuting trends and statistics for the year so far.
Over the last 20 years, telecommuting opportunities have grown three-fold. With greater opportunities to work remotely comes the need for greater understanding of the telecommuting work model and its relation to job seekers, employers, and the job market as a whole.
To meet this need, we turned to our own company data as well as to the latest in Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs forecasting to create a ‘Top 10’ mid-year report for the first half of 2016. Our report surveys telecommuting trends by state, career industry, job type, and employer.
Virtual Vocations 2016 Telecommuting Top 10 Infographic
We’ve outlined key highlights from our telecommuting report, which includes data abstracted from January 1 through June 30, 2016, in a convenient infographic below.
If you’d prefer to view the infographic with clickable links to our BLS source, website, and social media pages, follow the link ahead to Virtual Vocations’ 2016 Telecommuting Top 10 Mid-Year Report PDF.
Telecommuting Trends Mid-Year Report Breakdown
Since Virtual Vocations’ trained, experienced staff researches, approves, and posts an average of 10,000 remote job leads to our Telecommute Jobs Database every month, it would be impossible to pack all of our latest statistical findings into one infographic.
Let’s break down the research.
Best States for Telecommuting
While telecommuting jobs in industries like writing and blogging and graphic design nearly always allow telecommuters the flexibility to work from home 100% of the time or travel and work from any location on the globe, some career industries require remote workers to reside in a particular state. For example, telecommute careers in teaching and nursing usually necessitate state-specific licenses and may demand that job seekers live and work within the state where they are licensed.
If you are interested in a telecommute job with location-specific requirements, we have good news: high-quality telecommute job openings are available coast to coast!
Search for your next telecommute job using our handy Location Search Bar at the top of our webpages. You can further narrow the results of your remote job search using our Search Filters menu. Select “Telecommute Status” and choose from job leads that have a “Geographic Restriction” or allow you to work and “Live Anywhere in the U.S.”
Best of Telecommute-Friendly Companies
The Virtual Vocations Telecommute Companies Database is an example of our company’s commitment to improve the ease and efficiency of telecommute job searches. This database, which houses profiles of more than 1,200 employers that embrace telecommuting, is a hub where job seekers can research companies by name or industry and discover more about what it’s like to telecommute for that employer. Within each profile, job seekers gain access to the following company information:
- A company description and website link
- Key details like the company’s headquarters location, industry information, and founded date
- Links to the company’s Better Business Bureau profile and Wikipedia page links
- Links to the company’s profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube
- An RSS feed of company news
- A graph of the company’s most recent hiring trends
- A list of available telecommute job openings from the employer
We compiled data from our Telecommute Companies Database to generate our list of the top 10 companies hiring telecommuters, as determined by the number of telecommute job vacancies from each employer that we posted to our Telecommute Jobs Database from January 1 – June 30, 2016.
Check out a few of our key remote employer hiring stats below, and view the complete findings in the graph ahead:
- UnitedHealth Group—topping the list of Companies Hiring Telecommuters with 3,467 remote job openings through the first half of 2016—had nearly four times as many telecommute job openings as IBM, which took second place.
- Five of the top 10 companies represent the information technology sector—consistently one of our most searched categories of telecommute jobs.
- Approximately one-third of the top telecommute employers are telecommuting education companies, reinforcing that virtual education is on the rise.
Are you interested in working remotely? Explore telecommuting employment options with one of these Top 10 Companies Hiring Telecommuters:
View Virtual Vocations’ complete UnitedHealth Group company profile.
IBM is the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 400,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries. This telecommute-friendly employer regularly offers full-time employment in career fields like sales, management, engineering, and project management featuring telecommute work arrangements for both U.S.-based and international job seekers.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete IBM company profile.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Dell, Inc. company profile.

Xerox Corporation is an American multi-national corporation providing global business, document management, and technology services to more than 180 countries. The company frequently employs project managers, system development specialists, solution managers, sales executives, and many other professionals in home-based roles.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Xerox Corporation company profile.
Salesforce.com is the world’s leading employer specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The company hires staff to work remotely in numerous areas including sales, account management, software development, information technology, and consulting.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Salesforce.com company profile.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Humana Inc. company profile.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Oracle Corporation company profile.
Connections Academy is a division of the education company Connection Education LLC and an offshoot of Sylvan Ventures. The company provides a public school option with high parental involvement that students can complete from home. Connections Academy regularly employs K-12 teachers throughout the United States to work from home and instruct students online.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Connections Academy company profile.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete K12 Inc. company profile.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit education subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company and a leading provider of business, school, and individual educational services. Its products and services aid those seeking education, whether that be in the K-12, higher education, or professional development sectors. Kaplan, Inc. employs home-based instructors in a variety of content areas and grade levels.
View Virtual Vocations’ complete Kaplan, Inc. company profile.
Best Career Industries for Telecommuting
Virtual Vocations is no stranger to the breadth of telecommuting jobs available to modern job seekers. Within our Telecommute Jobs Database we feature verified remote job leads from employers in upwards of 40 career categories.
Our 2015 Year-End Telecommuting Report highlighted last year’s trends in telecommuting career industries. Let’s look at whether or not the first half of 2016 saw any changes in the most sought after telecommute job fields:
- Sales and information technology established a healthy rivalry for the top spot on our Telecommute Career Industries list with information technology (2015’s second-place finisher) overtaking sales to earn the number one slot.
- Account management climbed three spots over the last six months while consulting jobs fell three spots from 7th to 10th.
- Investigations dropped off our list of top telecommute-friendly industries; meanwhile, a new addition—customer service—entered the list in 9th place.
Best of Telecommute Jobs
The United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Program maps employment projections for the fastest-growing occupations for a given period of time. In its most recent report—last updated in April 2016—the BLS’ Occupational Employment Statistics Program provided an overview of jobs projected to have the fastest rate of growth through 2024.
Upon examination of this BLS report, we were pleased to learn that a great number of these occupations are telecommute-friendly. In fact, half of the fastest-growing occupations over the next eight years are healthcare industry telecommute jobs, which is one of our most-searched telecommute job categories.
From statistician to web developer, the other five fastest-growing telecommute-friendly jobs represent the financial, information technology, research, and translation industries.
Final Thoughts
Twenty-sixteen has already proven to be another powerhouse year for telecommuting. Although we have seen some shifts in the most popular states and career industries for working remotely, we’ve also witnessed the rise of major employers offering telecommuting work arrangements and multiple telecommute-friendly occupations that are projected to grow more than 30 percent within the next decade.
We cannot wait to see what the remainder of 2016 has in store!
What have you gained from our Top 10 Telecommuting Mid-Year Report? Share your insights when you connect with Virtual Vocations on Facebook and Twitter. We’d love to hear from you!
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