Employees have less perceived bargaining power as far as remote work is concerned, so professionals must expand their flexible working options
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It’s the start of a new year, and right now you’re likely either:
- Fed up of being forced into the office full-time at your current role but are starting to adjust to the idea
- Unemployed and looking for a fully remote/hybrid remote job
- Or you’re happily working in your ideal flexible work arrangement
If you’re reading this article, chances are you fall into the top two categories, but you feel powerless because your options seem restricted.
Fresh data from MyPerfectResume’s survey of 1,000 U.S. professionals highlights a shocking reversal in employee bargaining power for remote work:
- The share of workers willing to quit over a non-negotiable RTO order fell from 51% in 2025 to just 7% in 2026
- About 74% now expect to have the same or less bargaining power over flexibility this year
- Nearly half (46%) expect companies to tighten on-site attendance requirements
- Approximately 73% anticipate expanded use of monitoring or surveillance tools to enforce compliance
But don’t throw in the towel just yet. Although there appears to be a decline in employee leverage as far as remote and flexible work is concerned, this doesn’t necessarily indicate that remote (and hybrid-remote) work is dying altogether. In fact, recent figures point to the exact opposite.
Research from FlexJobs analysts reveals that remote hiring ticked up 3% in Q4 2025, even though it was experiencing a slight decline throughout the previous quarters last year.
The top career fields driving this spike are:
- Project management
- Computer and IT
- Sales
- Client services
- Medical and healthcare
But where can you find these remote jobs? Who’s hiring?
Top 29 Employers Hiring Remotely In 2026
Thankfully, FlexJobs also compiled a list of the top 100 employers who consistently hired the greatest share of fully remote and hybrid remote roles across their extensive database from January to December 31, 2025. These indicate what to expect for this year and where to redirect your energy in your job search, whether you’re actively or passively looking.
The list features a range of employers representing industries such as healthcare, insurance, fintech, SaaS, media and telecoms, and education, to name a few.
Here are the top 29 in the list:
- TELUS (IT)
- Elevance Health (insurance)
- Lockheed Martin (aerospace and defence)
- Transcom (BPO company)
- UnitedHealth Group (insurance and healthcare)
- General Dynamics (aerospace and defence)
- BELAY (BPO company)
- Centene Corporation (healthcare)
- General Electric – GE (tech, energy, and manufacturing conglomerate)
- U.S. Bank (financial)
- Sargent & Lundy (architect engineering)
- NBCUniversal (media)
- Insight Global (recruitment and staffing)
- General Motors (manufacturing)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (biotech)
- Johnson & Johnson (pharma)
- Cognizant (IT)
- Piper Companies (recruitment and staffing)
- Siemens (automation and tech)
- Stride, Inc. (education)
- PayPal (fintech)
- Boston Scientific (manufacturing)
- Cox Enterprises (media)
- JLL – Jones Lang LaSalle (real estate)
- Visa (financial)
- Medtronic (health tech)
- Zscaler (IT)
- Your Part Time Controller (financial/accounting)
- State of Washington (federal)
The labor market experienced an increase of 3% more remote remote job postings in Q4 2025
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How Do I Find A Remote Job In 2026?
The key to finding a remote job isn’t so much negotiating with your employer (the MyPerfectResume survey results shows that the sun has set on that era), as it is looking beyond your current role and figuring out what options are best suited to your situation, such as:
- Working remotely as a freelance consultant, leveraging your expertise and experience from your hones skills or professional experience.
- Adding employers like the ones in the list above, to your target list as part of your job search strategy, following them on LinkedIn, turning on job alerts, and connecting with key decision-makers on LinkedIn too.
- Seeking out companies with flexible-first policies, based on reviews and employee experiences listed on Indeed and Glassdoor.
- Strategically networking with past co-workers, industry connections and acquaintances through professional memberships.
Most importantly, define yourself in the remote job market by making your professional image more competitive, impactful, and directly tied to business value, to boost your value in the labor pool outside of your employer.
Read this recent Forbes article I wrote to discover 13 skills to put on your resume to secure a remote job this year.