{
  "id": 9305414,
  "title": "How employers can make good remote work policies before the next crisis",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/how-employers-can-make-good-remote-work-policies-before-the-next",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-23T08:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91610783/remote-work-organizational-culture-crisis"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Six years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, over one-fifth of U.S. workers with the capability to do so remain either fully or partially remote. Despite a new work normal, no single method suits all employees, and the benefits and drawbacks of remote work remain debated. To understand what factors influenced the long-term shift to remote and hybrid work, and the effect of the pandemic on research firms, the author collaborated with colleagues Gina O’Connor and Jonathan Sims from Babson College. They discovered that the process of deciding where employees should work is as crucial as the decision itself.\n\nIn early 2020, four global companies handling similar technical and scientific tasks all followed the same approach when the pandemic upended daily routines. They instructed most of their employees to work from home starting in March 2020. The subsequent three years saw variations in how each company arranged work arrangements—remote, on-site, or hybrid—depending on how swiftly they reached stable work arrangements and the level of worker agreement.\n\nWhile previous research focused on executives' traits, such as age and personality, this study revealed that organizational culture plays a more significant role. Organizational culture refers to the shared assumptions, beliefs, and norms that guide decision-making and interaction among employees. The Stanford research team found that the percentage of paid full days worked from home surged from 7% before the pandemic to over 60% shortly after its onset, then declined to around 30% over the next two years. However, this pattern varied among the four companies studied.\n\nFor the majority of scientists and technicians, fully remote work lasted between a few weeks and a few months. Establishing new stable work arrangements took 3 to 15 months for these companies, sometimes involving multiple policy changes. Managers and employees understood and accepted these new arrangements to varying degrees. By early 2023, middle managers and workers at two of the four companies broadly accepted their work-from-home policies. However, at the other two companies, employees generally accepted the policies, while at one, employees rejected them and sought workarounds.\n\nOrganizational culture, which develops slowly over years, acts like a script that determines which decisions seem possible and which seem unachievable. The study found that organizational culture influenced the speed at which employers established a new balance between remote, on-site, and hybrid work after the initial pandemic phase. Two companies adopted hierarchical structures, establishing clear lines of authority and rules regarding remote work. These companies stabilized work arrangements quickly, and employees understood the rules.\n\nIn contrast, the other two companies prioritized teamwork and employee input, holding workshops about remote work that included employees at all levels. While hierarchical companies moved faster, they struggled with managerial issues and employee concerns. Collaborative companies took longer to decide on workplace policies but faced less pushback from employees. To prepare for the next crisis, organizational culture should be considered before it disrupts work routines.",
  "summary": "More than six years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, more than one in five of the U.S. workers who can work remotely do so either full-time or at least one day per week. Even though a new normal has set in, no single approach has worked for all employees. And the debate over the benefits and drawbacks of remote work continues. To see what factors affected the long-term shift to remote and…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}