Remote Work and the Changing Organization: Management, Productivity and Employee Well-Being in the Post-Pandemic Workplace

Abstract

Remote and hybrid work moved from the margins of organizational life to the center of it within a matter of weeks in 2020, and a large share of it has stayed. This article reviews what the research says about what that shift means for organizations. It traces the evolution of remote work, sets out the main theoretical perspectives, and then looks at productivity, motivation, work-life boundaries, management practices, digital collaboration and organizational culture. It also considers inequality and access, hybrid arrangements, international evidence and the future of work. The main argument is that the evidence does not support either the strong optimistic claim (remote work simply raises productivity and well-being) or the strong pessimistic one (remote work erodes performance and culture). Outcomes seem to depend on the type of work, the intensity of remote work, the quality of management, and who is choosing or being assigned to work remotely. Much of the best evidence comes from a small number of firms and from the United States and China, so I treat generalization with caution throughout.