- Survey of remote workers finds that nearly seven out of 10 are holding down another job
- 37 percent say they are working a second full-time job, with 84 percent of these workers saying they are running their own business on the side
- The majority of respondents say they believe they are as productive or more productive than if they were working a single job
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
Numerous people are taking advantage of remote work arrangements to balance a second job, often by running their own side business.
This was the finding in a recent poll by ResumeBuilder.com, which surveyed 1,250 full-time remote workers in October. It found that 69 percent of these employees had a second job, including 37 percent working another full-time job in addition to their primary job and 32 percent with a side gig.
Remote work arrangements have allowed employees to enjoy more flexibility, including more time due to a lack of commute, and the findings suggest that many people are using this added flexibility to increase their earnings. Half of those saying they work multiple jobs are doing so to pay down debt or increase their spending power.
Employers might be concerned to see how frequently workers are juggling multiple jobs, but respondents said they did not believe doing so affected their performance. In fact, 49 percent said they thought it made them more productive than if they were working a single job and 39 percent said they were equally as productive.
- Among those balancing two full-time jobs, 45 percent say their second job is also remote while 32 percent say it is in-person and 23 percent say it has a hybrid schedule
- 60 percent said they were completing remote work at their primary job while at their secondary job, while 32 percent maintained separate work schedules
- 39 percent said they were able to balance two full-time jobs because neither required 40 hours to complete, while 34 percent said they were working more than 40 hours a week
- 77 percent of those with multiple jobs said they are running their own business on the side, including 84 percent of those describing themselves as working two full-time jobs
- Some respondents were seeing a major boost in income while others were only earning a modest amount of extra money; 61 percent of those earning less than $10,000 at their primary job were earning less than $10,000 in their second job, while 45 percent of those earning more than $100,000 in their primary job were earning more than $100,000 in their second job
