These are the top 20 companies hiring for work-from

The rise of flexible work has long been a trend workplace experts believed would take hold in the years to come, but few could have predicted just how much it would become a mainstay of the work experience in 2020. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, just 3.6% of the U.S. workforce worked primarily remotely. By April 2020, roughly half of office workers were working completely from home, according to Gallup, and the share of full-time teleworkers remained elevated at 33% as of September.

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FlexJobs, a career resource that helps people find remote work, saw a 50% jump in people visiting the site and 19% uptick in employers posting job openings in the last year, says FlexJobs career development manager and coach Brie Reynolds.

And for its eighth annual list of the top 100 companies hiring for remote roles, FlexJobs analyzed data from roughly 57,000 companies and identified the ones that posted the highest number of open remote jobs to the site in the last year, indicating a likelihood they'll continue their hiring spree into 2021.

In the last year, the No. 1 company to hire the most remote workers is Lionbridge, which provides translation services. A number of companies that specialize in customer service, staffing and online education also appear in the top 20 employers of remote workers for the year.

New to the list is Citrix, a software company whose services became essential to businesses shifting to remote work. Reynolds tells CNBC Make It the company's introduction to the list is an indication that Citrix not only successfully shifted to widespread remote work overnight, but it made a commitment to continue hiring virtually, and for remote positions that could outlast the circumstances of the pandemic.

"The biggest takeaway is that when companies switch to remote work and it works well, even in stressful and unusual times, they can learn to hire remotely rather than wait for the emergency situation to be done," Reynolds says. "It speaks to remote efficacy that allows companies to operate well even in the worst circumstances."

Meanwhile, 11 companies including Dell, CVS Health and Salesforce have been recognized in the FlexJobs top 100 companies list since it began in 2014, which Reynolds says recognizes their status as leaders supporting long-term flexible work. Dell, for example, set a goal in 2013 to enable 50% of its workforce to work flexibly by 2020, including by working remotely part- or full-time. (Roughly 60% of Dell employees had a flexible arrangement by 2019.)

"Companies like that show how large-scale, major companies and even global corporations can use remote work really well, and can deploy it in a way that meets strategic needs," Reynolds says. "They're the ones I recommend managers and companies look at as they chart their own remote workforce going forward.

"A lot of people feel like remote work really got its footing in 2020," she continues, "but these companies show it's been around for a long time, and they've been able to do it well for a number of years."

Here are the top 20 companies hiring for remote jobs in 2021, according to FlexJobs, along with the full list of the top 100 companies here.

Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts

Remote jobs: Media search analyst, web content assessor, education consultant

Headquarters: Englewood, Colorado

Remote jobs: Marketing analytics consultant, service delivery director, technical support representative

Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona

Remote jobs: Client results associate, learning facilitator associate, digital communications specialist

Remote jobs: Educational sales consultant, hospitality customer service representative, tax software customer service representative

Remote jobs: Staffing recruiter, special education teacher, computer programmer

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Remote jobs: Customer service agent

Remote jobs: Transcriptionist, financial analyst, copywriter

Headquarters: Pittsford, New York

Remote jobs: Client representative, chat sales and tech support associate, customer care support

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Remote jobs: Java developer, tax preparer, customer service representative

Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden

Remote jobs: Technical support advisor, operations manager, HR coordinator

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Remote jobs: Incident manager, clinical administrative coordinator, data analyst

Headquarters: Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Santa Clara, California

Remote jobs: Executive assistant, networking sales specialist, technical account manager

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Remote jobs: English language teacher, international language teacher

Remote jobs: Onboarding specialist, software developer, HR coordinator

Headquarters: Herndon, Virginia

Remote jobs: Teacher, literacy coach, high-school counselor

Headquarters: Beverly, Massachusetts

Industry: Operational support and bookkeeping

Remote jobs: Accountant, bookkeeper

Headquarters: Hanover, Maryland

Remote jobs: Graphic designer, call center agent, financial analyst

Remote jobs: Windows developer, consumer collections specialist, call center agent

Industry: Virtual administrative assistance

Remote jobs: Social media strategist, graphic designer, executive assistant

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