Adapting Human Resources Management Practices to Remote Work

Michael A. Campion

09-09-2026

The COVID-19 crisis showed us that remote work increases flexibility and autonomy that benefit both employees and organizations. Yet implementing remote work arrangements alone may be insufficient. Organizations need complementary human resources management (HRM) practices that support remote workers to derive those anticipated benefits. Employers must also make sure that remote work makes sense for the business.

To address this, my research colleagues Emily Campion (University of Iowa), Susan Zhu (University of Kentucky), Thomas Ptashnik (Providence College) and Alex Alonso (Society of Human Resource Management) and I designed two studies that allowed us to develop a framework of remote-enabling practices designed to support, accommodate and enhance the effectiveness of remote arrangements and test their effects on organizational outcomes.

In Study 1, we analyzed qualitative data from 800 HRM professionals recruited from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and identified seven remote-enabling practices. In Study 2, we examined the effects of remote work and remote-enabling practices on organizational outcomes with a SHRM sample representing 2,000 organizations across industries, company sizes, types of work and circumstances.

We found allowing remote work reduced the likelihood of unemployment filings and layoffs by 18% and reduced the need for hiring. It was also associated with better adaptation to remote work by employers and employees and a preference among employees to remain remote. However, it came with more expense control for employers, perhaps due to increased technology costs and loss of some efficiency.

We also found that the seven remote-enabling HRM practices had the following benefits and costs:

1. Training and development reduced the odds of unemployment by as much as 34% and layoffs by as much as 21%. This practice also weakened the likelihood of reduced hours to save payroll expenses by 23% and overall expense control by as much as 19%. It reduced the need for hiring by 30% and showed some associations with how employees recovered from the COVID-19 crisis, their overall well-being and their preference to stay remote.
2. Enhanced communication (both one- and two-way) had a positive association with employee well-being and recovery, but the effects were small. It did not predict the other outcomes.
3. Work management practices included more supervising, coordinating, monitoring productivity, meetings and planning. These prevented the need for employers to reduce work hours during the crisis, allowing for more hiring and improved recovery for the business. However, these practices also appeared to be more common in organizations that were struggling based on higher unemployment filings, reduced sales and more expense control. Employee well-being was positive, but employees preferred not to remain remote, which suggests that remote work did not fit the company well.
4. Employee relations HRM practices included morale-building activities (e.g., happy hours, hosted virtual lunches and snacks, birthday recognition, daily joke/meme e-mails, personal stories), and it included assessing morale and providing more resources for working at home (e.g., intranet page, virtual leadership and team-building tools, remote work best practices and tips). Employee relations practices were associated with employee well-being and preference for staying working remote.
5. Employee assistance included employee assistance programs (EAPs), counseling, telehealth, mental health, and wellness outreach and resources. It was slightly related to well-being but not related to adaptation to remote work, perhaps because few employees needed these resources.
6. Enhanced technology included providing remote workers with hardware, software and access to the internet and company files from home. Offering enhanced technology was associated with reduced odds of unemployment by as much as 22% and increased hiring by 27%. The practice improved employees’ well-being, preference for remote work, and recovery from the crisis. However, it increased the odds of expense control by as much as 46%, which makes sense given the additional cost.
7. Job assignments included reassigning or redeploying some workers to other jobs and changing or adding job tasks/responsibilities to jobs. This practice appears to be a reaction when COVID had a devastating effect on the business because it was associated with increased odds of unemployment up to 48%, expense control up to 93%, layoffs up to 15%, and reduced hours up to 84%. Organizations who were suffering these conditions may have reacted by changing job assignments, which were associated with improved recovery in those organizations.

The end of the COVID-19 crisis does not mean organizations should abandon the lessons learned during the shift to remote work. Instead, the findings suggest that organizations should take a strategic, flexible approach to work arrangements and HR practices, focusing on what best supports both business performance and employees. Insights from the studies include:

• Use remote work strategically. Remote work offers significant advantages and may be preferable to blanket return-to-office mandates. Other benefits may include lower office costs, access to a broader talent pool and potentially lower hiring costs.
• Invest in supportive HR practices. Training and development and improved technology can help reduce layoffs and unemployment, increase opportunities to work more hours, control costs and support employee well-being.
• Tailor practices to circumstances. No unique combination of HR practices is required. Each practice has an independent, additive effect, so organizations should select those that best fit their needs.
• Act early. The most important finding was the value of early adoption. HR practices were most effective when implemented immediately after organizations shifted to remote work, although many continued to have benefits over time.

COVID-19 forced an unprecedented change in where work is now performed. A return to pre-COVID in-office conditions is unlikely because work site flexibility has too many advantages, and we now know managing remote work is possible. However, it doesn’t work universally. Organizations should evaluate how the pros and cons of remote work fit with their unique needs. Then they can set remote work expectations to align with how employees acquire and demonstrate the skills to be effective remote workers.