They Say Remote Work Is Bad For Employees, But Most Research Suggests Otherwise — A Behavioral Economist Explains.这一立场的问题在于它谴责底片ative impact of remote and hybrid work on wellbeing, yet glosses over the damage to wellbeing caused by the alternative, namely office-centric work.
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They sayremote and hybrid workis bad for employee mental wellbeing and leads to a sense of social isolation, meaninglessness and lack ofwork-life boundaries. So, we should all go back to office-centric work — or so manytraditionalistbusiness leaders and gurus would have us believe.
For example,Malcolm Gladwell saidthere is a "core psychological truth, which is we want you to have a feeling of belonging and to feel necessary… I know it's a hassle to come into the office, but if you're just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the work-life you want to live?"
These office-centric traditionalists back up their claims by referencing a number of prominent articles and studies about the dangers of remote work for mental wellbeing. For example, anarticlein The Atlantic claimed that "aggravation from commuting is no match for the misery of loneliness." Astudyby the American Psychiatric Association reported that over two-thirds of employees who work from home at least part of the time had trouble getting away from work at the end of the day. And anotherarticlediscussed how remote work can exacerbate stress.
The trouble with such articles (and studies) stems from a sneaky misdirection. They decry the negative impact of remote and hybrid work on wellbeing, yet they gloss over the damage to wellbeing caused by the alternative, namely office-centric work. That means the frustration of along commuteto the office, sitting at your desk in anoften-uncomfortable and oppressive open officefor 8 hours, having a sad desk lunch and unhealthy snacks and then even more frustration commuting back home.
So what happens when we compare apples to apples? That's when we need to hear from the horse's mouth: namely, surveys ofemployeesthemselves who experienced both in-office work before the pandemic and hybrid and remote work after Covid-19 struck.
Consider a 2022surveyby Cisco of 28,000 full-time employees around the globe. 78% of respondents say remote and hybrid work improved their overall wellbeing. And 79% of respondents felt that working remotely improved their work-life balance. 74% report that working from home improved their family relationships, and 51% strengthened their friendships, addressing concerns about isolation. 82% say the ability to work from anywhere has made them happier, and 55% say that such work decreased their stress levels.
Other surveys back up Cisco's findings. For example, a 2022 Future Forumsurvey而全职工作的知识工作者the office, in a hybrid modality, and fully remote. It found that full-time in-office workers felt least satisfied with work-life balance, hybrid workers were in the middle and fully remote workers felt most satisfied. The same distribution applied to questions about stress and/or anxiety. According to a late 2022 Gallupsurvey, among workers who could work fully remotely, those who were fully office-centric had rates of burnout at 35% and engagement at 30%. By contrast, 37% of hybrid workers were engaged and 30% were burnt out, while for remote workers, the percentage for engagement was 37% and burnout at 27%. That further belies the myth about remote work burnout.
Related:Why You Should Rethink That Return-to-Office Mandate
Academic peer-reviewed research provides further support. Consider a 2022studypublished in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health of bank workers who worked on the same tasks of advising customers either remotely or in person. It found that fully remote workers experienced higher meaningfulness, self-actualization, happiness and commitment than in-person workers. Anotherstudy, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, reported that hybrid workers, compared to office-centric ones, experienced higher satisfaction with work and had 35% better retention.
What about the supposed burnout crisis associated with remote work? Indeed, burnout is a concern. A survey by Deloitte finds that77% of workers experienced burnout at their current job. Asurveyby Gallup came up with a slightly lower number of 67%. Clearly, it's a problem, but guess what? Both of those surveys are from 2018, long before the era of widespread remote work.
By contrast, an April 2021 McKinseysurveyfound that 54% of those in the U.S., and 49% of those globally, reported feeling burnout. A September 2021surveyby The Hartford reported 61% burnout. Given that we had much more fully remote or hybrid work in the pandemic, arguably full or part-time remote opportunities decreased burnout, not increased it. Indeed, that finding aligns with the earlier surveys and peer-reviewed research suggesting remote and hybrid work improves wellbeing.
Still, burnout is a real problem for hybrid and remote workers, as it is for in-office workers. Employers need to offer mental health benefits withfully remote optionsto help employees address these challenges.
Moreover, while overall being better for wellbeing, remote and hybrid work does have specific disadvantages around work-life separation. To addresswork-life issues, I advise my clients, who I helpedmake the transitionto hybrid and remote work, to establish norms and policies focused on clear expectations and setting boundaries.
Related:It Might be a Company-Ending Mistake to Go Back to the Office
Some people expect their Slack or Microsoft Teams messages to be answered within an hour, while others check Slack once a day. Some believe email requires a response within three hours, and others feel three days is fine.
As a result of such uncertainty and lack of clarity about what's appropriate, too many people feel uncomfortable disconnecting and not replying to messages or doing work tasks after hours. That might stem from a fear of not meeting theirboss's expectationsor not wanting to let their colleagues down.
To solve this problem, companies need to establish and incentivize clear expectations and boundaries. Develop policies and norms around response times for different channels of communication and clarify the work/life boundaries for your employees.
Let me clarify: bywork-life boundaries, I'm not necessarily saying employees should never work outside the regular work hours established for that employee. But you might create an expectation that it happens no more often than once a week, barring an emergency.
By setting clear expectations and boundaries, you'll address the biggest challenge for your wellbeing for remote and hybrid work: work-life boundaries. As for other issues, theresearchclearly shows that overall remote and hybrid workers have better wellbeing and lower burnout than in-office workers working in the same roles.
