One-third of all UK remote job opportunities are in IT sector

• Searches for remote roles up over 680% since January 2020
• IT sector accounts for 15,400 remote job openings, 33% of remote jobs in UK
• A third of all Customer Services roles now advertised as remote - highest sector %
• ‘Head of Remote’ could be the next big hiring trend as Facebook, Quora and GitHub all employ remote working specialists

IT is the top hiring sector for remote workers, accounting for nearly a third of all UK remote job openings, according to new research from job search engine Adzuna. 

Following Boris Johnson’s announcement that UK employees who can 'work effectively from home should do so over the winter', Adzuna analysed the sectors that have adjusted best to remote working - and revealed those that still have work to do.

Since the pandemic, the appetite for remote roles has sky-rocketed, with searches for ‘Remote’ opportunities up over 680% compared to January 2020. Yet the number of remote roles on offer has risen just +147% compared to a year ago, with 47,300 job ads specifying they are for a remote role out of the 590,400 jobs on offer in the UK. And some sectors have adjusted to the new normal quicker than others.

IT is the top hiring sector for remote workers, with 15,400 remote jobs on offer, representing just under a quarter (23.5%) of IT opportunities and one-third (32.6%) of overall remote opportunities. The average advertised salary on offer is £51,300, with top remote jobs available including C#, Java and Ruby Developer positions, Network Engineers, Software Developers and Cloud Security Specialists as the sector has adjusted quickly to the ‘new normal’. 

Meanwhile the Customer Services sector has also responded well to the pandemic, with remote hiring activity accounting for the greatest proportion (32.7%) of advertised roles (4,300 roles, 2nd most remote jobs). Remote sales advertised salaries average £20,500 and include opportunities for virtual call centre assistants and market research experts.

Sales is the joint-3rd top hiring sector, advertising 3,400 remote roles. Available roles include experts who specialise in marketing and selling on online sites like Etsy, Facebook and Instagram. Telesales advisors and Fundraisers are also in hot demand. The average salary on offer for remote sales roles is £34,400.

On equal footing, Healthcare & Nursing is also advertising 3,400 remote roles, driven by a rise in telephone consultations and remote health assessments, yet this represents just 4.5% of total openings within the sector.

Service industries slower to react to the new normal

Office-based service industries may seem an obvious contender for remote-working, but a low proportion of job openings in these sectors are designated ‘remote’ opportunities. Just 14.9% of PR & Marketing advertised openings are ‘remote’ according to the analysis, with just 1,500 remote roles available paying an average of £37,400. Similarly, only 9.2% of Accounting & Finance positions are advertised as remote, equal to 2,700 roles paying £42,600.

The trend for office-based jobs being easier to move online is visible in pay trends. On average, remote jobs are advertising salaries of £40,061, significantly higher than the UK average of £34,539 for all jobs (according to our latest Jobs Report data for August), revealing a wage divide in the types of roles that can transition to remote working. Blue-collar industries, by comparison, offer far fewer remote job opportunities, with just 3.8% of advertised Trade & Construction jobs designated as remote.

Part-time openings may offer a lifeline to blue-collar jobseekers struggling to find remote jobs to apply for. Nearly a third (30.4%) of Part-Time jobs are remote, with opportunities available for Data Entry Clerks and Virtual Assistants, as companies hire contract and part-time staff to meet rising demand without committing to full-time hires.

Top remote hiring companies and new remote job titles

The companies hiring for the most remote workers currently include estate agency Spicerhaart (373 jobs), healthcare giant Bupa (236 jobs), and payment company Mastercard (117 jobs).

Companies are supporting the increase in remote working by hiring for experts to help the transition. Facebook recently hired for a ‘Remote Work, Director’, social platform Quora for a ‘Head of Remote Work’ and software firm GitLab, which has been fully remote since 2011, employing a ‘Head of Remote’.*

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, comments:

“Remote working is here to stay, but remote job opportunities have a way to go to catch-up. Nine-in-ten job openings fail to specify if a role is remote and may be missing out on applications from cautious jobseekers nervous about returning to the office. IT is leading the charge, accounting for a third of overall remote job opportunities, helped by a sector full of early-adopters and technical pioneers. This reflects the wider trend of white-collar work moving online. But blue-collar jobhunters have far fewer remote opportunities to choose from. There is an inequality issue here and we must question whether enough is being done to protect lower-skilled, lower-paid workers forced to put themselves at risk to find work. 

“It’s good to see companies prioritising the online transition and starting to hire remote specialists. Chief Diversity Officer has been one of the fastest growing roles so far this year. Head of Remote Working could be the new hot job title for 2021 and beyond.”

Table 1: UK Remote Jobs - by top 10 sectors