At the 2024 HR Congress, researchers Sylvie St-Onge from HEC Montréal and Ali Béjaoui from the Université du Québec en Outaouais presented surprising findings from a longitudinal study on hybrid work. The researchers sought to measure how the number of remote workdays impacts employee engagement with their employer. The results were eye-opening.
“We wanted to test the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind,’” Sylvie St-Onge began.
In 2022, nearly 10,400 employees from nine organizations—including seven universities, a large corporation, and a professional order (CRHA)—responded to a survey measuring engagement based on the number of remote workdays. This cohort mainly consisted of knowledge workers. To assess the long-term impact, employees were surveyed again a year later, garnering 4,550 responses.
“Most studies comparing office work to remote work don’t capture nuances in frequency,” explained Ali Béjaoui.
No Drop in Productivity
The study measured two aspects:
- Employee engagement, assessed in terms of work-related affective and moral commitment.
- Perceived support from the organization, colleagues, and immediate supervisors.
Contrary to anecdotal surveys suggesting burnout or reduced productivity from prolonged remote work, the longitudinal study revealed the opposite: work engagement increased significantly starting at 3–4 remote workdays per week and continued to rise with up to 5 days.
An anomaly emerged in “Phase 2” of the study: employees with only 1–2 remote workdays reported lower engagement than those fully office-based. Does this mean it’s better to bring everyone back to the office rather than offering a partial remote arrangement? The researchers stopped short of such conclusions.
“The only decline we observed in engagement relates to immediate supervision. When moving from 3–4 remote days to 5, the perception of supervisor support decreases. It’s essentially this perception of support that causes engagement to dip,” explained Béjaoui.
The researchers compared the engagement curve with the perception-of-support curve and found a correlation between the two.
“Does the employer pair a remote work culture with autonomy, or does it maintain control through a management style ill-suited to remote work?” Béjaoui asked. “These are the types of questions organizations should ask, based on our study. How can we increase support to sustain work engagement?”
Recommendations to Boost Remote Worker Support
To conclude their presentation, the researchers offered several recommendations for enhancing remote worker support, providing valuable insights for shaping hybrid work policies. Their findings highlight how organizations can adapt to foster engagement in the evolving work environment.
training.isarta.com 
