Remote/hybrid work in flux: work-place/preference mismatch and adaptations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented employer-driven shift to remote/hybrid work for those whose jobs allow it, but then came retrenchments, forging disjunctures between where one works (remote/hybrid or in-person) and individual preferences, which we term work-place mismatch. We draw on a combined worker power, employer biases, and adaptive strategy theoretical framing to investigate work-place mismatch in light of remarkable pandemic-precipitated shifts in place of work, opening up possibilities (and preferences) for remote/hybrid arrangements. In addition to examining inequities in work-place mismatch, we theorize employees’ possible adaptive strategies when confronting such mismatch—shifting where they work, changing their locational preferences, or intending to leave or actually leaving their employer. Using a nationally representative four-wave panel (October 2020–April 2022) of US employees who worked fully or partially remotely during the pandemic, we find that work-place mismatch is widespread, especially among those returning to on-site work. Hispanics, Black men, and those lacking a college degree are most likely to experience unfulfilled interest (mismatch) in remote work. Structurally disadvantaged mismatched workers also experience constrained strategies—less apt to change their work location or quit relative to white or college-educated workers.