Younger Firms and CEOs Allow More Work from Home

Cevat Giray Aksoy; Jose Maria Barrero; Nicholas Bloom; Katelyn Cranney; Steven J. Davis; Mathias Dolls; Pablo Zarate

doi:10.3386/w34795

Younger Firms and CEOs Allow More Work from Home

Cevat Giray Aksoy, Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, Katelyn Cranney, Steven J. Davis, Mathias Dolls & Pablo Zarate

Working Paper 34795

DOI 10.3386/w34795

Issue Date February 2026

We establish three facts about work from home (WFH) in the United States. First, employees WFH more often at younger firms – almost twice as often at firms founded after 2015 than at firms founded before 1990. Second, employees working under younger CEOs have higher levels of WFH. The average WFH rate is 1.4 days per week when the CEO is under 30, compared to 1.1 days when the CEO is 60 or older. Third, the self-employed WFH more than twice as often as wage-and-salary employees. These facts highlight the importance of organizational and managerial attributes for the prevalence of WFH.

We thank the Asian Development Bank, the Japan Fund for Prosperity and Resilience, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Asociación Mexicana de Cultura, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the project “Development of poverty and inequality in Germany and France over the past 25 years” (grant number 01UI2208A), the International Growth Centre, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the World Bank for financial support. Views presented are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the National Bureau of Economic Research, or any other institution. The usual disclaimer applies.

Nicholas Bloom
I worked for McKinsey and company as a management consultant from 2001-2002. I have not received any funding from them after that time.

I am part of the Toulouse Network for Information Technology, which carries out research on IT and productivity. From this network I receive an annual honorarium, which is funded by Microsoft.

I do occasional consulting on management practices for government and policy agencies, like the Canadian Government, the World Bank, the European Union, the British Government, and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

I produced a report in 2008 for the World Economic Forum on management practices in private equity for which I received an honorarium.

I am a paid speaker at corporate events at which I discuss among other things working from home, management practices and policy uncertainty.

Steven J. Davis
I own more than $5,000 in stock of Charles River Associates.
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Cevat Giray Aksoy, Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, Katelyn Cranney, Steven J. Davis, Mathias Dolls, and Pablo Zarate, "Younger Firms and CEOs Allow More Work from Home," NBER Working Paper 34795 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w34795.

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