New Evidence Challenges What Experts Said About Working From Home

As the recent global pandemic waned – and the urgent need for widespread remote work began to fade into history – a new view started to emerge.

It suggested remote work wasn't as effective as being in the office, that it hinders collaboration, and that remote workers experience increased feelings of isolation and worsened mental health.

But what if we've got this the wrong way around?

In a new study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers analyzed survey data from more than 7,700 employees at a large healthcare organization in the Southwestern US.

The research – which collected responses from remote workers, onsite workers, and people in hybrid roles – suggests that working from home is associated with higher well-being, and may even be linked with workers staying with their employer for longer.

In a world under pressure to return to the office – where some have described working from home as a "COVID-era privilege", it's a compelling case to hold the line.

The results suggest working from home is associated with higher well-being. (MStudioImages/Canva)

"This suggests you let people work remotely if they want to work remotely," says organizational psychologist and study co-author Stefanie Johnson from the University of Colorado Boulder.

"Taking away people's choice of how they work is probably not going to help them in terms of their well-being."

In the surveys, collected in 2023, employees were asked various questions designed to measure their overall perception of their well-being in the workplace.

They were also asked to describe their workplace culture in three to five words, with the researchers rating individual words that indicated a positive connection to the workplace. For example, terms like inclusion, unity, care, and collaboration were suggestive of a positive connection.

The overall results showed that remote workers reported having the highest well-being (an average score of 4.22 on a five-point scale), beating out both hybrid workers (4.12) and onsite workers (3.89).

This result came as a surprise, given the possibility that hybrid workers might show the highest well-being, enjoying the best of both worlds.

"I actually thought you would be happiest if you were part-time out of the office," Johnson says. "Then every once in a while you get to see people, get that human connection."

Data on positive workplace connection showed signs of a similar pattern, with remote workers hinting at a more positive workplace connection (0.61), compared to hybrid (0.58) and onsite (0.55) employees, but the researchers note the result wasn't statistically significant given the size of the sample.

Nonetheless, the researchers say it helps to refute the idea that remote work by itself prevents people from communicating effectively.

"Remote employees in our sample mentioned perceived positive connection at a slightly greater rate than their hybrid and onsite peers, which may suggest that remote work is not necessarily associated with lower levels of workplace cohesion and collaboration," the study authors write.

"These findings may point toward a more nuanced understanding of work environment and connection – one that may be shaped by intentional communication practices, rather than mere proximity."

Turnover rates echoed the same kind of pattern, with records showing fewer remote workers (7.8 percent of remote workers) had left the organization a year later, compared with 8.3 percent of hybrid workers and 8.8 percent of onsite employees.

Related: People Who Work Remotely Are Happier And More Productive, Study Finds

The size of that effect was not considered statistically significant, but a related result was: Higher well-being in the employees' responses was associated with lower turnover.

Of course, these findings certainly won't be the last word on working from home versus working in the office.

But the researchers hope their results can become part of the conversation, because clearly there's a whole other side to this in some organizations, offering a much more positive perspective on working from home.

"The implications of this research are especially salient as organizations navigate continued ambiguity in remote work policy," the authors explain.

"At a time when many organizations are actively debating whether to mandate a return to the office, these findings offer timely and evidence-based insights that challenge prevailing assumptions."

The findings are reported in Frontiers in Psychology.