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Remote working: a double-edged sword for workers' personal and professional well-being

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2022

Nicolas Gillet Open the ORCID record for Nicolas Gillet [Opens in a new window] ,
Tiphaine Huyghebaert-Zouaghi ,
Stéphanie Austin ,
Claude Fernet Open the ORCID record for Claude Fernet [Opens in a new window]  and
Alexandre J. S. Morin
Nicolas Gillet*
Affiliation:
QUALIPSY EE 1901, Université de Tours, Tours, France and Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
Tiphaine Huyghebaert-Zouaghi
Affiliation:
C2S EA 6291, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
Stéphanie Austin
Affiliation:
LIPROM, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Claude Fernet
Affiliation:
LIPROM, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Alexandre J. S. Morin
Affiliation:
Substantive-Methodological Synergy Research Laboratory, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
*
Corresponding author: E-mail: nicolas.gillet@univ-tours.fr
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Abstract

While research suggests that work centrality has a positive effect on work engagement and a negative influence on family satisfaction, these relations may differ as a function of one's work setting (onsite vs. remote working). In the present study, we examined the direct and indirect – through work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC), work-family enrichment (WFE), and family-work enrichment (FWE) – effects of work centrality on work engagement and family satisfaction. We also examined whether these effects of work centrality on work engagement and family satisfaction differed between onsite and remote employees. We used a cross-sectional survey design to test our hypotheses among a total of 432 employees, including 152 always working onsite and 280 working remotely. As expected, our results revealed that work centrality was positively related to work engagement and negatively to family satisfaction. Moreover, the indirect effects (IE) of work centrality on work engagement were significantly mediated by WFE, whereas the IE of work centrality on family satisfaction were significantly mediated by FWC, WFE, and FWE. Finally, the relations between work centrality and the outcomes (work engagement and family satisfaction) were stronger among onsite employees than among remote employees. These results revealed that remote working may act as a double-edged sword by buffering the negative effects of work centrality on family satisfaction but also limiting the positive effects of work centrality on work engagement. Organizations and managers should thus consider addressing employees' work centrality and work type in their efforts to promote employees' professional and personal well-being.

Keywords

Family satisfactionmediationmoderationremote workingwork centralitywork engagementwork-family conflict and enrichment
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 27 , Special Issue 6: Physical and virtual work environments during COVID-19 , November 2021 , pp. 1060 - 1082
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2022

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Footnotes

*

The first two authors (N. G. and T. H.-Z.) contributed equally to the preparation of this article, their order was determined at random: both should be considered first authors.

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