51 Low-Stress and Remote Jobs for Working Parents | FlexJobs

Balancing a career and the demands of parenthood (and life!) can be stressful. Between work assignments, practices, and the daily responsibilities of being an adult, stress and burnout can quickly follow. Thankfully, remote work can alleviate some of the struggles.

In July 2022, we surveyed more than 1,600 parents with children 18 or younger living at home and found that 62% of parents want to work remotely full-time. An additional 35% would like to have partial remote work available through a hybrid arrangement.

Furthermore, 57% of parents stated they would look for a new job if they were not allowed to continue working remotely in their current position!

It’s clear that for parents to feel supported in the workplace, flexibility is key! In fact, 75% of parents cited remote work as the best way for employers to provide a supportive work environment, with 67% citing flexible schedules.

Other ways parents state that workplaces can better support them include:

• Performance-based or ROWE workplace: 39%
• More empathy and understanding from leadership: 38%
• Wellness benefits: 35%
• More affordable healthcare: 34%
• More PTO: 32%
• Paid parental leave: 30%
• Childcare subsidies: 28%
• Onboarding programs for parents reentering the workforce: 27%
• Dedicated mental health resources: 23%
• Longer parental leave: 21%
• Paid leave for pregnancy loss: 16%
• Employee resource groups (ERGs) for parents: 14%

With parents looking for better work-life balance, which jobs meet those needs? We consulted the online careers database O*Net, run by the U.S. Department of Labor. One of O*Net’s resources is a list of occupations rated by their level of required “stress tolerance,” defined as how much a given job “requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.”

Jobs are rated from 0 to 100. Those with higher ratings are more stressful and require more stress tolerance from the people doing them.

We compared the hundreds of jobs with lower stress levels (less than 80) on O*Net’s list to the FlexJobs database to compile a list of jobs that are lower-stress, marked as having a bright outlook (expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, or will have large numbers of job openings), and offer remote work options.

Note:

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51 Lower-Stress Remote Jobs

The jobs below are ordered from lowest to highest in terms of their stress-level rating. All of them fall below 80 on the stress tolerance ratings, and each job links to current remote openings.

• Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health (58)
• Search Marketing Strategists (58)
• Operations Research Analysts (61)
• Bioinformatics Technicians (63)
• Business Intelligence Analysts (63)
• Epidemiologists (64)
• Biostatisticians (64)
• Economists (64)
• Statisticians (64)
• Dietitians and Nutritionists (65)
• Tutors (65)
• Computer and Information Research Scientists (66)
• Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary (68)
• Financial Examiners (69)
• Art Directors (69)
• Technical Writers (69)
• Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping (70)
• Actuaries (70)
• Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists (71)
• Foresters (71)
• Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (71)
• Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists (72)
• Paralegals and Legal Assistants (72)
• Clinical Data Managers (73)
• Information Security Analysts (73)
• Broadcast Technicians (74)
• Photographers (74)
• Web Developers (74)
• Logistics Analysts (75)
• Validation Engineers (75)
• Marketing Managers (75)
• Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive (75)
• Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers (75)
• Special Effects Artists and Animators (75)
• Training and Development Specialists (75)
• Genetic Counselors (76)
• Customer Service Representatives (77)
• Interpreters and Translators (77)
• Talent Directors (77)
• Law Teachers, Postsecondary (78)
• Accountants and Auditors (78)
• Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary (78)
• Fundraisers (78)
• Speech-Language Pathologists (78)
• Industrial Engineers (79)
• Computer and Information Systems Managers (79)
• Video Game Designers (79)
• Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary (80)
• Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators (80)
• Coaches and Scouts (80)
• Training and Development Managers (80)

In Case You’re Curious: The Most Stressful Jobs

For comparison’s sake, which jobs does O*Net rate as the absolute most stressful, with scores of 95 or higher? Some examples:

• Patient Representative (95)
• Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners (95)
• Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators (95)
• Transit and Railroad Police (96)
• Nurse Midwives (96)
• Nurse Anesthetists (96)
• First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers (96)
• Public Safety Telecommunicators (97)
• Obstetricians and Gynecologists (97)
• Acute Care Nurses (97)
• Telephone Operators (98)
• Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates (98)
• Anesthesiologist Assistants (98)
• Film and Video Editors (99)
• Urologists (100)

It’s interesting to note that there are no “zero-stress” or “stress-free” jobs—the job with the lowest stress rating (Couriers and Messengers) earns a 37.

Chill Out

Finding a low-stress remote, work-from-home job will do wonders for your work-life balance. And as you can see, FlexJobs is a great source for finding remote jobs.