A flexible and supportive organizational culture is absolutely necessary for the success of remote work arrangements. Remote employment has the potential to blur the distinction between professional and personal life. A supportive culture keeps employees from being overworked, assists them in managing stress, and promotes a healthy work-life balance.
A new study examined data from an employee review website to evaluate what factors contributed to the success of remote work. Companies with strong remote workplaces catered to employees’ interests, provided staff independence, encouraged collaboration, and had flexible policies.
The epidemic made remote work the norm for many, but it wasn’t always a pleasant experience. There are numerous benefits to working remotely, including improved flexibility, inclusivity for parents and persons with impairments, and work-life balance. However, it can also have an impact on teamwork, communication, and the general work atmosphere.
One of the biggest changes during the pandemic for all of us, for better or worse, was remote work. The motivation for us in this research was to understand what makes some organizations more suitable for remote work and others not. We found that cultural aspects matter the most.
Munmun De Choudhury
The Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a study that used data from the employee review website Glassdoor to evaluate what factors contributed to the success of remote work. Companies with strong remote workplaces catered to employees’ interests, provided staff independence, encouraged collaboration, and had flexible policies.
“One of the biggest changes during the pandemic for all of us, for better or worse, was remote work,” said Munmun De Choudhury, an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing. “The motivation for us in this research was to understand what makes some organizations more suitable for remote work and others not. We found that cultural aspects matter the most.”
De Choudhury and her Ph.D. student Mohit Chandra presented the research in the paper, “What Makes Some Workplaces More Favorable to Remote Work? Unpacking Employee Experiences During Covid-19 Via Glassdoor,” at Proceedings of the 15th ACM Web Science Conference.
Data Discovery
Glassdoor was a suitable dataset since employees could write anonymously, resulting in more genuine reviews. Although review sites are known for attracting people with strong opinions, the researchers used this bias to their advantage because they were looking for people with strong opinions on business culture.
“We miss the people in the middle, but it also works in our favor because we were really interested in those positives and negatives,” De Choudhury explained. “We acknowledge the bias, but it was still a pretty good data set for us to know the extremes of how people felt.”
They eventually gathered over 140,000 reviews from existing employees at 52 Fortune 500 businesses that permitted remote work from March 2019 to March 2021, which coincided with the Covid-19 epidemic. Verizon, Walmart, and Salesforce were among these companies. Their textual analysis concentrated mostly on the Glassdoor evaluations’ positives and drawbacks sections.
To study the data, the researchers devised an algorithmic prediction task to determine which cultural characteristics a company has prior to the epidemic would result in beneficial remote work conditions. Their algorithm, which used statistical and deep learning methods, predicted a company’s positive remote work environment 76% of the time.
Using organizational behavior theory, the researchers divided company culture into 41 different dimensions categorized into seven subgroups: interests, work values, work activities, social skills, job structural characteristics, work styles, and interpersonal relationships.
The Company Culture Curve
Companies with a positive culture for remote work excelled in three main categories:
- Interests: Companies that empower employees to pursue their own goals, interests, and how they conduct their work were viewed more favorably.
- Work values: Companies that give their employees freedom to make their own decisions and work in a collaborative environment led to more satisfaction.
- Structured job characteristics: Companies with flexible remote work and hours were more likely to entice employees.
“We found these keywords in reviews like ‘work-life balance’ or ‘flexible work’ occurring frequently in the pros section of good companies,” Chandra explained.
Companies with toxic cultures, on the other hand, frequently failed to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; made employees feel disrespected; and acted unethically. Finally, the researchers conclude that these findings represent generational changes in what employees value the most.
