Study: remote workers report the highest well-being among 7,700 employees

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder analysed survey data from 7,704 employees at a large healthcare organization and found one pattern stood out: employees who worked fully remotely reported the highest levels of well-being, while those who worked entirely onsite reported the lowest. Hybrid workers fell in between. The study was published in July 2026 in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

An expectation that did not hold

Stefanie Johnson, professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at CU Boulder's Leeds School of Business and a co-author of the study, said the results surprised her. She had expected employees who split their time between home and the office to have the best of both worlds. Instead, the data pointed in a different direction.

"This suggests you let people work remotely if they want to work remotely," Johnson said. "Taking away people's choice of how they work is probably not going to help them in terms of their well-being."

Connection and culture

Employees in the study were asked to describe their organization's culture in a handful of words. Remote workers were slightly more likely than their hybrid and onsite peers to use words associated with teamwork, inclusion and support. The researchers also found little evidence that remote workers felt less connected to colleagues or to workplace culture.

Johnson still sees value in face-to-face contact, especially for people early in their careers. "Remote works better after you know people," she said. "So there is still a benefit of having some face time."

Turnover and flexibility

The researchers also examined employee turnover one year after the survey was completed. Employees with higher well-being were less likely to leave the organization, while work location itself was not a strong direct predictor of turnover. Remote work was associated with higher well-being, which in turn was associated with lower turnover. Participants completed the workplace survey in 2023 and researchers compared those responses with actual turnover records one year later. Roughly half of those surveyed worked onsite, with the remainder split between hybrid and fully remote arrangements.

The study did not explore why remote workers reported higher well-being, but Johnson points to research on autonomy: control over one's environment and daily schedule tends to produce more positive outcomes, and working from home removes everyday stressors such as commuting and arranging child care or pet care. She argues that organizations debating return-to-office policies may get better results by investing in well-being rather than focusing only on where work happens. "I think flexibility is here to stay," she said.