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  • Harvard Business Review: The Big Idea

The Implications of Working Without an Office

By: Ethan Bernstein, Hayley Blunden, Andrew Brodsky, Wonbin Sohn and Ben Waber
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

In early 2020, the world began what is undoubtedly the largest work-from-home experiment in history. Now, as countries reopen but COVID-19 remains a major threat, organizations are wrestling with whether and how to have workers return to their offices. Business leaders need to be able to answer a number of questions to make these decisions. Primary among them is “What impact has working from home had on productivity and creativity?”

Keywords

Remote Work; Work From Home (WFH); Employees; Working Conditions; Health Pandemics; Performance Productivity; Creativity

Citation

Bernstein, Ethan, Hayley Blunden, Andrew Brodsky, Wonbin Sohn, and Ben Waber. "The Implications of Working Without an Office." Special Issue on The New Reality of WFH. Harvard Business Review: The Big Idea (July 2020).
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About The Author

Ethan S. Bernstein

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Kindness in Short Supply: Evidence for Inadequate Prosocial Input By: Jennifer E. Abel, Preeti Vani, Nicole Abi-Esber, Hayley Blunden and Juliana Schroeder
  • Buurtzorg By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb
  • Uncovering the Mitigating Psychological Response to Monitoring Technologies: Police Body Cameras Not Only Constrain but Also Depolarize By: Shefali V. Patil and Ethan Bernstein
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