Demand for chief remote officers follows WFH boom

Despite the round of layoffs at big tech companies, the US tech industry maintained a steady pace in hiring last month – particularly in relation to remote working positions.

Non-profit technology body CompTIA has crunched October jobs data from the US Bureau of Labor and reports that tech companies added 20,700 workers last month – a 23^rd straight month of job growth.

While Elon Musk annoucned a round of  high-profile layoffs at Twitter last week, CompTIA’s stats reveal that tech industry employment in the US has increased by 193,900 in 2022, 28% higher than the same period last year.

The organsiation also reported that, following a five-month slide, employer job postings for new tech hires rebounded last month, with nearly 317,000 openings, an increase of more than 10,000 from September.

According to the latest figures, positions involving remote work also show no signs of slowing down. Employer job postings for remote tech positions or work from home (WFH) options have increased at a year-to-date rate of 34% compared to 27% in 2021 and 22% in 2020.

In the UK market meanwhile, the Times on Saturday reported that job search engine Adzuna was seeing an increase in posts for the position of chief remote officer – a new-HR-cum-remote-office-manager-type role  which involves strategizing around employee productivity, wellbeing, and engagement.

Adzuna noted that 107 British firms were recruiting someone to oversee hybrid working last month – up from 52 in October 2019.

The chief remote officer is popular among big tech companies such as Facebook, which first started advertising the role in September 2020 after recognising the need for someone to develop a long-term remote working plan and lead the way “towards remote first ways”.

To read how remote working has impacted women tech workers read our special Women in Work report.

We’ve also reported on the phenomenon of  ‘productivity paranoia’ in which employers become suspicious of their remote workforce’s working practices.