Job satisfaction among fully remote workers is higher than among hybrid workers, who split time between the office and home, and those working fully in the office. However, no statistically significant differences were found by work arrangement in workplace connectedness or actual turnover rates.

ITmedia reported on Tuesday that researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Colorado Boulder published a study in the international journal Frontiers in Psychology analysing the relationship between work arrangement, satisfaction, workplace bonds and turnover among 7,704 employees at a medical institution. The sample included 1,869 fully remote workers, 2,099 hybrid employees who worked in the office 2 to 3 days a week, and 3,736 fully in-office workers.

The average job satisfaction score, out of 5, was highest for fully remote workers at 4.22. Hybrid workers scored 4.12, while fully in-office workers scored 3.89. The differences among the three groups were statistically significant. Satisfaction was measured using four questions, including whether employees felt energised at work, maintained work-life balance, and felt the organisation and managers supported health and daily-life convenience.

The study also produced results that differ from the common belief that remote work increases isolation in the workplace. In open-ended responses about workplace culture, fully remote workers had the highest share of expressions indicating positive connectedness. However, differences across groups were small and not statistically significant.

Actual turnover rates one year after the survey were 7.8 percent for fully remote workers, 8.3 percent for hybrid workers and 8.8 percent for fully in-office workers. Direct differences by work arrangement were also not statistically significant. Instead, a statistically significant relationship was found in which higher satisfaction was linked to a lower likelihood of turnover.

However, the study was conducted at only one medical institution. Work intensity may differ between administrative and analytical roles that can be done remotely and clinical and operational roles that require on-site work, and satisfaction was measured through self-reporting. The results therefore should not be applied directly to all industries or taken as proof that remote work itself raises satisfaction. Rather, they are more appropriately viewed as evidence that fully remote work is not necessarily detrimental to employee connectedness or retention.