About the authors: Dominika Wranik is a professor in Faculty of Management. Nachum Gabler is a PhD student in Public Administration. 听
between the federal raised a lot of questions about a one-size-fits-all approach. Those questions need answering.
Working remotely seemingly offers clear benefits to public sector employees and government organizations alike by raising productivity, speeding up connectivity and improving work-life balance.
Remote work can also improve motivation, performance and job satisfaction by giving workers in how they go about their jobs. But there are also concerns that the benefits may dwindle over time due to the changes it causes in relationships between employees and organizations and workplace motivation. Potential downsides and costs must be weighed against any benefits.
A question that was likely absent from last year鈥檚 contract negotiations 鈥� if only because the empirical evidence is sparse and inconclusive 鈥� is how remote work will affect , a particular drive that leads many people to jobs and careers in government or other public sector organizations like hospitals and universities.
Evidence shows that motivation in the workplace , especially with those who benefit from the services employees are providing. So what happens when remote work arrangements start to erode those instrumental relationships that help sustain the public service motivation that drives public servants to work each day?
What (little) we know
There are many potential benefits of remote work, though the empirical evidence is still a bit sparse. A recently published found that remote work may improve job satisfaction, lower absenteeism and reduce on-the-job distractions.
But these benefits largely depend on how remote work is designed 鈥� in other words, the mix of key job features and resources like time pressure, autonomy, dispute resolution mechanisms, supervisor support and feedback. Workers who have strong social support, and those who were more emotionally stable and felt more autonomous to begin with, have generally experienced the most benefits from remote work.
However, remote work was also found to increase stress and reduce engagement in some circumstances. The reduction or even complete absence of interpersonal connections and in-person encounters have been linked to stronger feelings of . What鈥檚 more, the gain in job satisfaction tended to dissipate and level off as the amount of time working remotely increased beyond a certain threshold number of weekly hours.
The limited research on remote work specifically in the pub