[Paper Review] In-Person, Hybrid or Remote? Employers' Perspectives on the Future of Work Post-Pandemic

Divyakant Tahlyan, Hani S. Mahmassani+5 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 28, 2024

Employment and Welfare Studies4 citations

TL;DR

This study analyzes North American employers' post-pandemic work model preferences using survey data from 129 top executives, revealing that hybrid work is likely to become the norm. Key findings show that retention and talent competition drive remote work adoption, while concerns over innovation and supervision persist; sector, pre-pandemic work models, and attitudes toward remote work significantly predict future in-person orientation.

ABSTRACT

We present an employer-side perspective on remote work through the pandemic using data from top executives of 129 employers in North America. Our analysis suggests that at least some of the pandemic-accelerated changes to the work location landscape will likely stick; with some form of hybrid work being the norm. However, the patterns will vary by department (HR/legal/sales/IT, etc.) and by sector of operations. Top three concerns among employers include: supervision and mentoring, reduction in innovation, and creativity; and the top three benefits include their ability to retain / recruit talent, positive impact on public image and their ability to compete. An Ordered Probit model of the expected April 2024 work location strategy revealed that those in transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing sectors, those with a fully in-person approach to work pre-COVID, and those with a negative outlook towards the impact of remote work are likely to be more in-person-centered, while those with fully remote work approach in April 2020 are likely to be less in-person-centered. Lastly, we present data on resumption of business travel, in-person client interactions and changes in office space reconfigurations that employers have made since the beginning of the pandemic.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand employer preferences for work location models (in-person, hybrid, remote) in the post-pandemic era.
• To identify key drivers and barriers influencing employers’ decisions on remote and hybrid work arrangements.
• To examine how sector, pre-pandemic work practices, and attitudes toward remote work shape future work location strategies.
• To assess changes in business travel, client interactions, and office space reconfiguration since the pandemic.

Proposed method

• Data was collected from top executives at 129 North American employers across diverse sectors.
• An ordered probit model was used to predict employers’ expected work location strategy for April 2024 based on pre-pandemic practices and attitudes.
• Qualitative insights were drawn from responses on supervision, innovation, talent retention, and public image.
• The analysis compared work model preferences across departments (e.g., HR, legal, sales, IT) and sectors (e.g., transportation, manufacturing, warehousing).
• Trends in business travel resumption and office space reconfiguration were analyzed using employer-reported data.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What factors most strongly predict an employer’s shift toward in-person, hybrid, or remote work models post-pandemic?
• RQ2 How do pre-pandemic work arrangements and sector-specific characteristics influence future work location strategies?
• RQ3 What are the primary benefits and concerns employers associate with remote and hybrid work models?
• RQ4 How have business travel and office space utilization changed since the pandemic began, according to employer reports?
• RQ5 To what extent do employer perceptions of innovation, supervision, and talent retention shape their post-pandemic work policies?

Key findings

• At least some pandemic-driven shifts toward remote and hybrid work are expected to persist, with hybrid work becoming the norm across many organizations.
• Employers in transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing sectors are more likely to adopt in-person-centered models, especially if they had fully in-person practices pre-pandemic.
• Firms that adopted fully remote work in April 2020 are significantly less likely to be in-person-centered in their future strategies.
• The top three benefits cited by employers for remote work are talent retention and recruitment, improved public image, and competitive advantage.
• The top three concerns are challenges in supervision and mentoring, reduced innovation and creativity, and difficulties in team cohesion.
• Resumption of business travel and in-person client interactions remains limited, and many employers have reconfigured office spaces to support hybrid models.