Managing remote workers during quarantine: Insights from organizational research on boundary management

Abstract

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of employees find themselves working from home for the first time, and organizational leaders and supervisors are coping with the challenge of managing remote workers who are struggling to set and maintain a boundary between work and home life. Using an evidence-based management approach, we offer actionable insights into how managers can assess, create, and support work-from-home practices that address employees’ daily boundary control needs and challenges effectively. Our assess–create–support framework provides a blueprint for how managers can establish and optimize psychological and time-related work-home boundaries to enhance remote workers’ health, well-being, and performance.