Ongoing Remote Work, Returning to Working at Work, or in between during COVID-19: What Promotes Subjective Well-Being?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a massive turn to remote work, followed by subsequent shifts for many into hybrid or fully returning to the office. To understand the patterned dynamics of subjective well-being associated with shifting places of work, we conducted a nationally representative panel survey (October 2020 and April 2021) of U.S. employees who worked remotely at some point since the pandemic (N = 1,817). Cluster analysis identified four patterned constellations of well-being based on burnout, work–life conflict, and job and life satisfaction. A total return to office is generally more stressful, leading to significantly lower probabilities of being in the optimal low stress/high satisfaction constellation by Wave 2, especially for men and women without care obligations. Remote and hybrid arrangements have salutary effects; moving to hybrid is especially positive for minority men and less educated men, although it disadvantages White women’s well-being.

When Change and Stability in Work Location Matter for Psychological Distress: A Study of Workers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In contrast, Bernstein et al (2020) found a reduction in stress among U.S. professional workers who TWFH, except among those with childcare obligations. This is similar to Fan and Moen's (2023) finding that the benefits of continued remote work during the pandemic were diminished among both men and women with caregiving obligations. Other studies have found distinctly gendered differences among caregivers who TWFH.…”

“…This finding aligns with recent studies that have shown mixed results when it comes to the role the age of the youngest child in the household played during the pandemic, with some finding a reduced levels of work-family conflict among parents with teenage children (Schieman et al 2021), and others finding no effect of the age of children on parents’ psychological distress (Montazer et al 2022). Likewise, Fan and Moen (2023) found fewer benefits of longer-term remote work during the pandemic for both men and women with any caregiving obligations and some benefits (in terms of job and life satisfaction) of a return to work for women with care responsibilities, regardless of the child’s age. That said, at the time of our survey, 48 percent of workers in our sample who TWFH and had a preschool-aged child were using a daycare/preschool regularly, while only 17 percent of workers who TWFH and had a school-aged child had full access to in-person K-12 instruction.…”

“…Accordingly, the COVID-19 pandemic context provides us with a valuable opportunity to examine how mental health is influenced by rapid, macro-level structural changes, such as those that occurred to the social institution of work (Moen 2022). In particular, the pandemic's widespread, mandated transition into working from home (hereafter "TWFH") (Kosteas, Renna, and Scicchitano 2022) challenged our existing knowledge on the work-family interface, offering workfamily scholars and policymakers an opportunity to examine how fundamental disruptions to one's work location (such as a TWFH) relate to mental health (Adisa, Aiyenitaju, and Adekoya 2021;Chambel, Carvalho, and Santos 2022;Fan and Moen 2023;Holingue et al 2020;Lizana and Vega-Fernadez 2021;Moen 2022;Mo ¨hring et al 2021;Sahni 2020). In the present study, we adopt the perspective of Mirowsky and Ross (1989), where mental health and mental distress constitute a single continuum.…”

Diversifying podiatry placements: The future of podiatry education

“…For example, a research placement may be delivered 80% remotely for activities related to research project preparation and 20% in‐person for data collection. This is a representation of hybrid working patterns, which provides benefits to workers' well‐being and may help to minimize burnout [ 17 ]. An agreed remote activity content is normally required between the placement provider, the learner(s) and the university's podiatry placement team prior to the start of a placement.…”

Characterization of superspreaders movement in a bidirectional corridor using a social force model

“…schools resulted in a learning deficit (14). Closure of services and transition to remote work deteriorated health in certain communities (15)(16)(17)(18)(19).…”