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The potential to work for a company from anywhere in the world has never been greater. According to a report from the Society for Human Resources Management, 69% of organizations allowed employees to work from home at least some of the time in 2019 — more than three times the share of companies who allowed telecommuting 20 years ago. Many remote workers are highly compensated (nearly a quarter earn $100,000 or more) and they tend to be happier in their jobs. A combination of factors, including improved worker satisfaction, greater productivity and more efficient use of company resources, are some reasons why the ability to work from just about anywhere is one of the biggest workplace trends to watch for in 2020 and beyond. To determine which employers are leading the charge in this space, FlexJobs identified the best companies to work for to land a work-from-home job today. The job listing site analyzed its database of over 54,000 companies and identified the ones that posted the highest number of remote jobs in 2019, suggesting they'll continue to hire a large amount of remote workers in the new year. Jobs on the site can be advertised as being a either part-time or full-time remote work arrangement.

The companies that are hiring for remote workers, from tech to education

The No. 1 company hiring for remote workers is Appen, an Australian technology company that helps organizations develop machine learning and artificial intelligence products. While four of the top 20 companies on the list are international (China, India and Sweden are represented), the majority of companies are based in the U.S. and are largely concentrated in areas around Arizona (such as No. 4 Liveops) and California (such as No. 10 Williams-Sonoma). Many roles within health care, computer and IT organizations can be done remotely, and these fields are well represented among the top companies filling remote jobs. These are also some of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the U.S., where demand and pay are strong, especially in today's tight labor market. Education companies also grew their remote workforce in the past year: Two e-learning companies, VIPKid and EF Education First, cracked the top 10. "The most notable change we've seen over the past year is not so much the growth in the sheer volume of remote job listings, but the growth in the variety of remote job titles these companies are seeking to hire," said Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs, in a statement to CNBC Make It. "Companies are expanding the range of professional positions they're allowing to work from home." According to FlexJobs, the most common job titles for remote work are accountant, customer service representative, project manager, nurse and writer.

More companies are able to hire internationally

Global companies and those headquartered in high cost-of-living areas may be able to expand their talent pool by considering applicants who live in other parts of the country, and even the world. "The cost of living in many major U.S. cities is high and can be prohibitive," Michelle Armer, chief people officer at job site CareerBuilder, told CNBC Make It. "Broadly, we're seeing people move away from urban hubs in favor of less popular areas where they can get more space for less." People who do their jobs from home, freelance or travel for work are increasingly leaving cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco and taking their families — and jobs — to places including Denver and Boise, Idaho, according to The Wall Street Journal. Here are the top 20 companies, hiring hundreds of remote workers each.

1. Appen

Headquarters: Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia Industry: Technology (machine learning and artificial intelligence) Remote jobs: voice coach, linguist, web search evaluator, transcriber

2. Lionbridge

Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts Industry: Software and business (language translation) Remote jobs: creative designer, social media assessor, project manager, scheduling assistant

3. VIPKid

Headquarters: Beijing, China Industry: Education Remote jobs: online English as a second language teacher

4. Liveops

Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona Industry: Customer service Remote jobs: customer service representative, licensed insurance agent, health care resource specialist

5. Working Solutions

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Industry: Customer service Remote jobs: sales development representative, travel reservation specialist, corporate travel agent

6. Kelly Services

Headquarters: Troy, Michigan Industry: Staffing Remote jobs: data entry operator, administrative assistant, software tester, data analyst

7. EF Education First

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts Industry: Education Remote jobs: language teacher, copywriter, content writer, college counselor, IT coordinator

8. SYKES

Headquarters: Tampa, Florida Industry: Customer service Remote jobs: customer support agent, executive assistant, senior director of client management

9. Concentrix

Headquarters: Fremont, California Industry: Business services Remote jobs: sales and service representative

10. Williams-Sonoma

Headquarters: San Francisco, California Industry: Retail Remote jobs: customer service agent, technical designer, copy manager

11. UnitedHealth Group

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota Industry: Health care Remote jobs: product director, medical director, health and wellness coach, call center nurse

12. LanguageLine Solutions

Headquarters: Monterey, California Industry: Translation Remote jobs: interpreter, software engineer

13. TTEC

Headquarters: Englewood, Colorado Industry: Business operations Remote jobs: Salesforce developer, software engineer, consultant, web developer

14. TranscribeMe

Headquarters: San Francisco, California Industry: Information technology, translation Remote jobs: transcriptionist

15. Humana

Headquarters: Louisville, Kentucky Industry: Health care Remote jobs: sales manager, medical director, business and technology lead, sales executive

16. Cactus Communications

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Industry: Communications Remote jobs: editor, medical writer, academic research evaluation

17. Transcom

Headquarters: Stockholm, Uppland, Sweden Industry: Customer service Remote jobs: technical support representative, payroll administrator, customer service agent

18. BroadPath Healthcare Solutions

Headquarters: Tucon, Arizona Industry: Health care Remote jobs: director of service operations, provider service representative, insurance claims processor, data specialist

19. Dell

Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas Industry: Computer technology Remote jobs: program manager, account executive, consultant, sales executive

20. Aetna