Big companies may be cracking the whip to get employees to return from their homes to their company offices, but small and mid-sized companies tend to shrug their shoulders and accept hybrid or fully remote work as their new reality.

A new report from researchers at the Hoover Institution and the payroll and employee benefits firm Gusto puts some flesh on the bones of the remote work phenomenon. It describes which groups are working farthest from their employers and speculates on why.

One of the report's most striking findings is the following: "Compared to 2019 levels, employees' average distance from their home to their employer has risen 2.7x: The mean distance to work rose from 10 miles in 2019 to 27 miles at the end of 2023. The share of workers living more than 50 miles from their employer rose more than five-fold, from 0.8% to 5.5%."