The COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered the nation’s economy has likely changed the American workplace permanently. As millions of Americans start returning to their jobs, what do they expect the “new normal” of daily work to look like?

MindEdge/Skye Learning’s national survey of 828 Americans who worked remotely during the coronavirus crisis was conducted online between May 1st and May 2nd of 2020. The top finding: only 35 percent of these workers expect to return full-time to their old workplaces after the crisis has passed. A clear majority of them expect to continue working remotely, either full-time (29 percent) or part-time (27 percent).

Remote work was a novel experience for many of these workers. Just under half (48 percent) say they had never worked remotely before. And among those who had worked from home before, only 33 percent said they had a great deal of experience with remote work.

The data show a widespread expectation that remote work will continue, full-time or in part, after the coronavirus crisis has passed. Only 35 percent of workers expect to return to their old workplaces on a full-time basis after the pandemic ends; 29 percent expect to continue working remotely on a full-time basis, and another 27 percent expect that they will be working from home part-time.

Just about half (48 percent) of survey respondents had never worked remotely before. Of those who had, just 33 percent – which translates to just 17 percent of our overall sample – say they’ve had a great deal of experience with remote work.