'Taking away people's choice of how they work is probably not going to help them in terms of their well-being': New study unsurprisingly finds people who want to work remotely are actually more productive and happier

Date:
Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Surprisingly enough, remote workers can be happy and productive, major study finds.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Study finds remote workers are far happier and more productive Remote workers reported much higher well-being, but were also less likely to leave their role Study also dispels myth that remote workers might feel alienated from co-workers Letting employees work remotely can have a significant positive effect on their productivity, job satisfaction and mental health, another major study has found.

A survey of 7,704 employees at a large US healthcare organization by researchers at the Leeds School of Business found fully remote workers reported the highest levels of well-being, with those entirely office-based reporting the lowest level. The findings, published in Frontiers in
Psychology , also noted that it was unable to discover significant evidence that remote workers felt any less connected to colleagues or workplace culture, once again disproving the myth against flexible working. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Stay flexible "This suggests you let people work remotely if they want to work remotely," said Stefanie Johnson, professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at the Leeds School of Business and co-author of the study. "Taking away
people's choice of how they work is probably not going to help them in terms of their well-being."

The researchers also looked at the level of employee turnover one year after the survey was completed, finding employees with higher well-being were less likely to leave the organization. You may like Gen Z workers say they are far more productive at home New survey finds many of us 'forget' about remote colleagues Quote of the day by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: 'One of the tech industrys worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever' closing the doors to pandemic-era flexibility

Remote work was associated with higher well-being, which in turn was associated with lower turnover, showing that work location cannot be a strong direct predictor of turnover.

"The data from our study and others suggest remote and hybrid work result in better outcomes than return-to-office mandates," Johnson added. "Leaders are not making decisions based on data. I think they are just returning to what they are used to." Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners
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Remote working has been a long-standing debate ever since the Covid-19 pandemic forced people around the world to be flexible.

While office-based working can have some benefits, it is increasingly noticeable that it is largely the CEOs and owners of large businesses who
back a return - not those who actually have to do it, and those paying large sums of money for travel and food costs.

Amazon , Dell and Tesla are among the companies which have adopted five-day mandates, while others have also adopted four-day and three-day mandates. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/taking-away-peoples-choice-of-how-they-work-is-p robably-not-going-to-help-them-in-terms-of-their-well-being-new-study-unsurpri singly-finds-people-who-want-to-work-remotely-are-actually-more-productive-and -happier


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