Preferences for Remote and Hybrid Work: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Carolyn E. Waldrep (), Marni Fritz and Jennifer Glass
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Carolyn E. Waldrep: Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
Marni Fritz: Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
Jennifer Glass: Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for many American workers to work from home. Did the rapid and widespread adoption of remote work arrangements influence workers’ preferences? This study analyzes the early pandemic work experiences of 52 participants (20 men and 32 women) in dual-earner households with children through in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 and 2022 via Zoom. The study explores respondents’ desire for remote and hybrid work, considering job satisfaction as well as job characteristics, family structure, and household organization. Unless their jobs were poorly suited to remote work, most workers with pandemic-era remote work opportunities—and even some who had not worked remotely—wished to keep remote access in their post-pandemic work arrangements. Respondents reported enhanced job satisfaction and productivity from remote work, as a result of greater schedule control and flexibility. We found that some workers were willing to change jobs to maintain their preferred work arrangement, while others acquiesced to employers’ return-to-work policies. The study highlights the need to understand workers’ preferences in supporting flexible work arrangements and contributes to the understanding of remote work on family dynamics during the pandemic and afterwards.

Keywords: remote work; work from home; job satisfaction; desire to work remotely; productivity; flexibility; commute; childcare; household organization; pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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