Remote Work and Employee Wellbeing

We spent so long debating if the office made you more productive. We were debating the wrong thing. I have been maniacal about this subject for years now at Industrious, and a new large-scale study in the journal Science found that increase in remote work explains up to 1/3 of the country's increase in depression and mental distress since 2011. This might not be the case for you personally, but at a population level, fields with the highest increases in remote work saw the highest increases in distress, mental health visits, and depression. It's no secret why. The office is the #1 place adults make new friends (https://lnkd.in/ghB9xwYF) and it is the most reliable way to get people out of their home and into their community. Without it, people (particularly unmarried people) see significant increases in the number of days in which they don't interact with anyone else, and with all of the ills that come with increased isolation. People like remote work, and some people can thrive in it. But just because some people can eat a Big Mac for lunch every day and still be perfectly healthy, that's not true for most of us. For many people, remote work attracts, but then it attacks. In the end, working from home gave us back our commute. But it took away something much more important. Incredible research by Emma Harrington and Natalia E. https://lnkd.in/g3dm6Gct

Remote working: great for productivity… but not always for your mental health, right? Hybrid and remote models are here to stay - and for many leaders and teams, they’ve brought more focus, flexibility, and freedom. But there’s a potentially darker side to consider. When you work from home, you avoid the commute, the office noise, and the after-work drinks. Sounds healthier, right? Not always. I see plenty of high performers fall into these traps: ↪ Working longer hours because the laptop is right there ↪ Seeing less of their family (ironically) because they’re “always on” ↪ Drinking more - no need to face the team the next morning ↪ Neglecting exercise, fresh air, and simple wellbeing habits The problem? When your work and personal life happen in the same space, the boundaries blur - and your mental health takes the hit before you even notice. Here’s how to protect yourself and your team: ➡ Create a start/finish routine not just a “to do” list ➡ Set rules around habits like alcohol, snacking, and screen time ➡ Schedule regular face-to-face connection - coffee, co-working ➡ Get outside every single day, even if it’s 15 minutes ➡ Keep a coach, mentor, or trusted sounding board on your side Remote work can be brilliant. It can also be isolating and draining if you don’t manage it. I've felt this myself - nobody is immune. I work with senior leaders who look fine on the surface - but underneath, they’re running on fumes. The good news? This can change quickly with the right structure, accountability, and support. Action ➡ Momentum ➡ Results What’s your best tip for staying mentally well when working remotely? Chris, Your Results Coach.

Remote work was supposed to improve mental health. New data shows it might be making things worse. Yet 36.2 million Americans will work remotely by 2025—including millions in healthcare. Here's the paradox I'm seeing in digital health: We're building remote mental health platforms while remote work itself creates mental health problems. Think about that for a second. 20% of remote workers cite loneliness as their biggest struggle, but we're asking them to provide virtual care for other people's loneliness. Something's not adding up. Millions of telehealth visits are being delivered with clinicians working remotely across the country. The model works for access to care. But here's what nobody talks about: 1/ Virtual care providers experience unique isolation ↳ No water cooler conversations ↳ No colleague to debrief with after difficult sessions ↳ Home becomes both workplace and trauma container ↳ Professional boundaries blur into personal space 2/ The loneliness compounds itself ↳ Isolated providers treating isolated patients ↳ Both sides missing human connection ↳ Technology mediates every interaction ↳ Empathy through screens takes extra emotional labor 3/ We're solving the wrong problem ↳ Remote work addresses geography, not connection ↳ Virtual care increases access but decreases touch ↳ We optimize for efficiency over humanity ↳ The cure becomes part of the disease 4/ The data tells a complex story ↳ Remote workers report both more flexibility AND more anxiety ↳ Virtual care improves access AND reduces therapeutic alliance ↳ We save commute time but lose transition rituals ↳ Freedom comes with invisible costs What I learned building telehealth at scale: The future isn't choosing between remote and in-person. It's designing for human connection regardless of medium. Our best outcomes came when we: • Created virtual "hallways" for informal team connection • Built in transition rituals between patient sessions • Mixed synchronous and asynchronous touchpoints • Prioritized provider community as much as patient care Maybe the future of healthcare isn't fully remote OR fully in-person. Maybe it's something entirely different. Maybe it's finally admitting that healthcare is fundamentally about human connection—and designing every system, whether virtual or physical, around that truth. --- ⁉️ How has remote work affected your mental health or your team's wellbeing? What works and what doesn't? ♻️ Repost if you think we need to rethink remote work in healthcare 👉 Follow me (Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD, MSE) for honest conversations about healthcare's digital transformation

There's a workplace crisis brewing. Following COVID, Thanx — like many other companies — moved to a fully-distributed workplace. The change has come with many benefits for employees, customers, and the company. The last two years have been some of our most successful as a business in terms of financial performance but also through the lens of employee retention and performance with numerous exciting promotions in the last 12 months. BUT... there's one reality we — and other remote workplaces — are struggling with. Remote work can be isolating (it's in fact why my all-star Executive Coach Tony Levitan (he/him/his) avoids the phraseology "remote work"). Many employees sleep and "go to work" in the same room; some do not interact with another human "IRL" on most days. Meetings tend to become stacked up leading to Zoom fatigue and organic smiles, laughs, and connection are replaced with small talk... at best (sometimes skipped entirely). The result, even for a high-performing workplace like ours: the sense of employee-to-employee connection (especially cross-functional) is in decline. Sharing below the results from our recent employee survey where we scored glowing marks across most categories but really struggled in two, especially "I have a best friend at work." Why does it matter? Read this HBR article: https://lnkd.in/gRWX8xwJ When I speak with other CEOs, this is a theme I hear often: employees do not wan't to go back to offices — they like the flexibility remote work affords them, they feel more productive. But overall there is less joy being created at work than before. In the short-term that's not a problem but over time I fear that work without connection will increase burnout, raising the cost of replacement hiring for the company but also lowering workforce fulfillment with their jobs and careers. I could tie this to some major mental health trends in younger generations and macro political issues we face as a country but not enough space to do so here. As a starting point, we need more dialogue — both from employers but also honest, transparent, vulnerable discussion from employees as well. Speaking for myself as a CEO and manager, I have gained immense efficiency and flexibility from remote work. But I know that this "best friend" score would immediately go back up if I returned our business to an in-office environment. At what cost? With what business impact? And ironically, while the "best friend" score would increase, some employees would quit — including those who feel most lacking in this area. Similarly, there must be new ways to build community with purpose even over video to ameliorate the effects of remote work. We do an all-company "Thanx IRL" once per year; should we do it more? It comes with major financial and time costs and is sometimes viewed as burdensome by those with families. But we — not just Thanx but as a country and industry — are still only scratching the surface here...

Last week, one of our contractors resigned unexpectedly. When I asked him why, he explained that he had set high expectations for his performance, which he felt he wasn’t meeting. He believed resigning would be doing the client a favor. However, the client had no issues with his performance and considered him a valued team member. It would be a shame for him to leave, according to the client’s feedback. Why did he feel this way? He lives alone, works on a global, fully remote project, and none of his friends are in IT to discuss his day-to-day experiences. As a result, he found himself isolated and in his own bubble. After discussing his feelings and how ITRAC and the client could support him, we found a way to help. We also provided advice on what to do if he finds himself in a similar situation in the future. By the end of the call, he felt much more positive and decided to stay on the project. While remote working has its benefits, it may not be suitable for everyone. If you are a remote worker feeling isolated, don’t suffer in silence. Reach out to anyone you can, attend in-person user groups to meet peers, or even travel and work from different locations to meet new people. Don’t remain in your own space with no one to talk to. If you’re a company with a remote workforce, regularly check in on your team’s mental health and provide frequent feedback, not just during annual reviews. This can make a big difference. Many people tend to ask “How are you?” and move on without truly noticing. Next time, after someone replies with “I’m good,” ask again, “But how are you really?” This can go a long way.

Remote work breaks your brain if you let it. Remote workers show 31% higher engagement than office workers. Yet they report more stress, anger, sadness, and loneliness. This insight comes from Gallup's latest State of the Global Workplace report, and it explains something I've observed firsthand: Remote work makes it pretty easy for work to become your whole life. I've been there. It's a slippery slope from checking slack at 8pm for 'one quick thing' and then spending 2 hours on a project that could have waited until the next day, or skipping a workout class because one more thing came up. It's not easy to separate myself from work, especially because I really care about what I'm doing! But creating healthy boundaries has become a necessity for my overall well-being. Here's what works for me: - Having a space dedicated to work and working from that place 90% of the time when at home - Working outside of the home at coffee shops or parks twice a month (more in the summer!) - Making a point to do something out of the house at least 3 work days per week I love the freedom remote work brings. But it definitely requires discipline to reap the benefits without letting it consume your life.

Remote work broke something we didn’t know we needed. Here’s how to fix it. We thought working from home would solve work-life balance. Plot twist: 69% of remote employees are experiencing burnout , and 53% are working more hours than they did in the office . Turns out, that 20-minute commute wasn’t just travel time. It was decompression time. → 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱: The physical transition between “work mode” and “home mode.” 61% of remote workers found it challenging to “unplug” during non-work hours - that’s nearly triple pre-pandemic numbers. → 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Create fake commutes. Walk around the block before starting work. Change clothes between work and personal time. Physically close your laptop and put it away. → 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: Your brain needs rituals to switch contexts. Without them, you’re always slightly “on” - which explains why remote workers report feeling more exhausted despite saving commute time. As Betsy Jacobson said: “Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management.” 𝙏𝙇;𝘿𝙍 - Working from home isn’t the problem. Working from home without boundaries is. What’s your “fake commute” ritual? How do you signal to your brain that work is over?

After 4 years of building an all-remote startup, we're making the shift to hybrid. Here's what I've learned about the real costs and benefits of remote work. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥: Remote work opened doors we never expected. We've built an incredible team across India, Ohio, and beyond—accessing talent pools where we're not competing with Mark Zuckerberg's paychecks but finding people who are just as capable and hungry to grow. For parents and experienced professionals, the flexibility has been transformative. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭: What caught me off guard was the mental health impact, especially on people without strong personal support networks. Three years of sitting alone at home when working, combined with startup intensity, takes a toll. For people under 30—many of whom are single — the loneliness can become overwhelming. Add in smartphone dependency and AI replacing human interaction, and we're seeing concerning trends. 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬: 🏢 Proximity by design - Co-working spaces near team members' homes, with at least two people per city when possible 👥 Buddy system - Hiring two people per department to create natural support networks 🎯 Proactive check-ins - Training managers to spot early signs of burnout and isolation ⚡ Intentional connection - Moving beyond Slack polls to meaningful virtual team-building The data is clear: remote work isn't going anywhere, but neither are the mental health challenges it creates. The companies that thrive will be those that design intentional solutions. What strategies have you found effective in maintaining team mental health while remote?

She took a remote CRA role to fix the burnout. Six months later, she felt worse. No more 70% travel. No more racing between oncology sites. She had everything she thought would help. Still exhausted. Here's what she realized: Burnout in clinical research isn't caused by the travel schedule. It's caused by going nowhere. You can handle long monitoring visits when you see where they're taking you. You can manage difficult sites when you know it's building toward something. But when you're doing the same SDV at the same level with no roadmap? That's when the work stops feeling hard and starts feeling pointless. Here's what actually drains clinical research professionals: 1/ No clarity on what's next. You're a CRA. But what does Lead CRA actually require? What about CTM? Nobody's told you. So you keep monitoring sites, hoping someone notices. 2/ Doing work that doesn't move you forward. You've completed 200 monitoring visits. Are you building leadership skills for the next level? Or just getting really good at where you already are? 3/ Watching others move up while you stay put. Someone you trained just got promoted. Someone with less experience landed a sponsor role. You're still waiting. The exhaustion isn't physical. It's the weight of feeling stuck. She didn't need a remote role. She needed a strategy. Once we mapped her next move and built a plan to close the gaps? The same work felt different. Within 4 months, she moved to Lead CRA. Same therapeutic area. Better title. Clear next steps. If you're burned out, ask yourself: Am I tired from the work itself? Or tired from work that's taking me nowhere? Two different problems. Two different solutions. Coach Rudy P.S. If you're stuck in the exhaustion cycle and need help building a clear path forward, send me a message.

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲: 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽? When the world shifted to remote work, many of us thought we’d found the dream: no commute, comfy clothes, and endless flexibility. But here's the reality few are talking about: 👉 𝗜𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱.  Days blur into weeks without meaningful social interaction. You might miss the energy of a buzzing office or even casual chats by the coffee machine. 👉 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹. Your “commute” is a few steps to the desk, and lunch breaks?  Often spent at the same chair.  Before you know it, your step count is alarmingly low. 👉 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵.  Work starts early, ends late, and sneaks into your weekends. Suddenly, your home isn’t your sanctuary—it’s your 24/7 office. 👉 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁. Without breaks, movement, and connection, burnout creeps in. You may find yourself “always on,” but never truly thriving. Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone. The remote work revolution has incredible perks, but it also brings challenges we MUST address. Here’s how to take back control: ✅ Schedule social time like a meeting. Whether it’s a coffee date, a virtual chat, or a coworking day, stay connected. ✅ Move every day. A quick 10-minute stretch, a walk between calls, or even a desk workout can work wonders. ✅ Set work boundaries. Create a “clock-out” ritual—shut your laptop, change clothes, and transition back to YOU. ✅ Prioritize self-care. Invest in routines that nurture your body and mind. Small daily practices compound into big results. As a coach, one of the things I do is help my clients redesign their remote work lives into something that supports—not drains—their energy and well-being. Your home office should work for YOU —not the other way around. What’s been your biggest challenge working from home?  Let’s share solutions and support each other in making remote work truly work. Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your thoughts! (no deep snow in Chicago yet (aww shucks!), photo from last year. #WorkFromHome #WorkLifeBalance #StressManagement