Photo by Marcus Aurelius from Pexels
Journal of Science Policy & Governance | Volume 18, Issue 04 | September 27, 2021

Policy Memo Competition Honorable Mention

Policy Memo: Expanding Access to and Ensuring Equity in the Benefits of Remote Work Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ashley E. Orr (1), Tamara Savage (2)
  1. Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA
  2. Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Corresponding author: aorr@cmu.edu
Download PDF
https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180413
Keywords: Remote work; telework; work-from-home; worker equity; labor economics
Executive Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the number of people working from home, with over 50% of employees working remotely during 2020. With the current popularity of remote work and the high prevalence of high-speed internet, video conferencing technology, remote collaboration tools, email, and other technologies, remote work will likely remain common after the pandemic ends and offices fully reopen. There are many benefits of remote work, including increased productivity, better work-life balance, reduced commute time and traffic congestion, decreased emissions, and cost savings for employees and employers. However, access to the privilege of remote work is unevenly distributed across occupations and socioeconomic groups. Among those who can work remotely, there may be disparities in performance appraisals and promotions compared to in-person workers. Congress has a unique opportunity to address these inequities via expansion of the Telework Enhancement Act, which currently covers federal government employees, to include firms in the private sector. This Act enables all employees whose jobs can be performed remotely to do so and mandates that remote workers and in-person workers be treated the same for the purposes of training, performance appraisal, and promotion.

-Read the full article through download.-
Download PDF

References

  1. Adams-Prassl, Abi, Teodora Boneva, Marta Golin, and Christopher Rauh. 2020. “Work Tasks That Can Be Done From Home: Evidence on the Variation within and across Occupations and Industries.” IZA Institute for Labor Economics, IZA DP, no. 13374 (June): 1-62.
  2. Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 (1990). 
  3. Barrero, Jose Maria, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J. Davis. 2021. “Why Working from Home Will Stick.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 28731, April 2021. https://www.nber.org/papers/w28731.
  4. Bloom, Nicholas, James Liang, John Roberts, and Zhichun Jenny Ying. 2015. “Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130 (1): 165-218. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qju032.
  5. Brenan, Megan. 2020. “COVID-19 and Remote Work: An Update.” Gallup.com. Gallup, October 13, 2020. https://news.gallup.com/poll/321800/covid-remote-work-update.aspx.
  6. Chung, Heejung. 2020. “Gender, Flexibility Stigma and the Perceived Negative Consequences of Flexible Working in the UK.” Social Indicators Research 151 (2): 521–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2036-7.
  7. Cristea, Ioana C., and Paul M. Leonardi. 2019. “Get Noticed and Die Trying: Signals, Sacrifice, and the Production of Face Time in Distributed Work.” Organization Science 30 (3): 552–72. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1265.
  8. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. “Data Tables (XLSX).” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/cps/effects-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic.htm.
  9. Davis, Morris A., Andra C. Ghent, and Jesse M. Gregory. 2021. “The Work-from-Home Technology Boon and Its Consequences.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 28461, Feb. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28461.
  10. DeVerter, Jeff. 2020. “In Defense Of Remote Work.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, December 2, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/12/02/in-defense-of-remote-work/?sh=519eff06144a.
  11. National Archives and Records Administration. n.d “EEO Terminology.” National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed April 17, 2021. https://www.archives.gov/eeo/terminology.html
  12. Eloise, Marianne. 2021. “We Still Need Accommodations.” The Cut, February 4, 2021. https://www.thecut.com/2021/02/pandemic-work-disability-accommodations.html.
  13. Elsbach, Kimberly D., Dan M. Cable, and Jeffrey W. Sherman. 2010. “How Passive ‘Face Time’ Affects Perceptions of Employees: Evidence of Spontaneous Trait Inference.” Human Relations 63 (6): 735-760. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726709353139.
  14. Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) (1963). 
  15. Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 203 (1938). 
  16. Fernandez-Lozano, Irina, and Juan-Ignacio Martinez-Pastor. 2020. “The Hidden Cost of Flexibility: A Factorial Survey Experiment on Job Promotion.” European Sociological Review 36 (2): 265-283. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz059.
  17. Faragher, Jo. 2020. “A Fifth of Disabled Workers Had Work from Home Requests Turned down during Pandemic.” Personnel Today. DVV Media International, November 23, 2020. https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/a-fifth-of-disabled-workers-had-covid-work-from-home-requests-turned-down/.
  18. Gariety, Bonnie Sue, and Sherrill Shaffer. 2007. “Wage differentials associated with working at home.” Monthly Labor Review (March): 61-67. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/03/art5full.pdf 
  19. Goldin, Claudia. 2014. “A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter.” The American Economic Review 104 (4): 1091–1119. http://doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.4.1091.
  20. Government Accountability Office. 2010. “Highlights of a Forum: Participant-Identified Leading Practices That Could Increase the Employment of Individuals with Disabilities in the Federal Workforce.” U.S. Government Accountability Office: GAO-11-81SP. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-11-81sp.
  21. Government of Ireland. 2021. “Making Remote Work: National Remote Work Strategy.” Government of Ireland, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, January 15, 2021. https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/Publications/Making-Remote-Work.html.
  22. Greenfield, Rebecca. 2021. “Work from Home Has the Power to Advance Equality or Set It Back.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg Businessweek, January 27, 2021.
  23. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-27/work-from-home-remote-work-could-advance-or-set-back-equality.
  24. Jones, Jeffrey M. 2020. “U.S. Remote Workdays Have Doubled During Pandemic.” Gallup.com. Gallup, August 31, 2020. https://news.gallup.com/poll/318173/remote-workdays-doubled-during-pandemic.aspx.
  25. Le Barbanchon, Thomas, Roland Rathelot, and Alexandra Roulet. 2021. “Gender Differences In Job Search: Trading Off Commute Against Wage.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 136, no. 1: 381–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjaa033.
  26. Liu, Sitian and Su, Yichen. 2020. “The Geography of Jobs and the Gender Wage Gap.” FRB of Dallas Working Paper No. 2028 (October): 1-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.24149/wp2028.
  27. Mateyka, Petr J., Melanie Rapino, and Liana Christin Landivar. 2012. ‘‘Home-Based Workers in the United States: 2010,’’ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports. https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf
  28. Marinescu, Ioana and Roland Rathelot. 2018. “Mismatch Unemployment and the Geography of Job Search.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 10(3):42-70. http://doi.org/10.1257/mac.20160312.
  29. Mas, Alexandre, and Amanda Pallais. 2017. "Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements." American Economic Review, 107 (12): 3722-59. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20161500.
  30. Maurer, Roy. 2020. “Study Finds Productivity Not Deterred by Shift to Remote Work.” SHRM.org. Society for Human Resource Management, September 16, 2020. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/Pages/Study-Productivity-Shift-Remote-Work-COVID-Coronavirus.aspx.
  31. Mercer. 2014. “Well-Intended Gender Diversity Efforts Not Moving the Needle.” Mercer, November 14, 2014. https://www.mercer.us/our-thinking/healthcare/well-intended-gender-diversity-efforts-not-moving-the-needle.html.
  32. Munck, Bill. 2001. “Changing a Culture of Face Time.” Harvard Business Review, 79(10):125-131.
  33. Office of Personnel Management. n.d. “Telework Legislation: Telework Enhancement Act.” Telework.gov. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Accessed April 29, 2021. https://www.telework.gov/guidance-legislation/telework-legislation/telework-enhancement-act/.
  34. Office of Personnel Management. 2020. “Status of Telework in the Federal Government: Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2018.” OPM.gov. March 2020. https://www.telework.gov/reports-studies/reports-to-congress/2019-report-to-congress.pdf.  
  35. Phillips, David C. “Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes?: Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment.” The Journal of Human Resources 55, no. 3: 864–901. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R.
  36. PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2021. “Business Needs a Tighter Strategy for Remote Work.” PwC, January 12, 2021. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html.
  37. Mark Pringle. 2020. “Testimony of Mark Pringle, Senior Vice President, Corporate Real Estate, Global Facilities, and Environment, Health, & Safety, Dell Technologies, Before the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works.” July 29, 2020. https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d/b/dbac8aeb-21ff-4851-bf5f-cb46e27f8b53/8A29868500579E6F23DFC39519D194E4.07.29.2020-pringle-testimony.pdf
  38. Michelle B. Rosenberg (Acting Director, Strategic Issues, GAO). 2020. “Federal Telework: Key Practices That Can Help Ensure the Success of Telework Programs.” Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate. November 18, 2020. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Michelle%20Rosenberg%20Testimony%20-%20GAO1.pdf
  39. Ross, Stephen L, and Yves Zenou. 2008. “Are Shirking and Leisure Substitutable? An Empirical Test of Efficiency Wages Based on Urban Economic Theory.” Regional Science and Urban Economics 38, no. 5: 498–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2008.05.009. 
  40. Rudman, Laurie A., and Kris Mescher. 2013. “Penalizing Men Who Request a Family Leave: Is Flexibility Stigma a Femininity Stigma?” Journal of Social Issues 69 (2): 322–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12017.
  41. Sherman, Eliot L. 2020. “Discretionary Remote Working Helps Mothers Without Harming Non-Mothers: Evidence from a Field Experiment.” Management Science 66, no. 3: 1351–1374. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3237
  42. Shilling, Fraser, and David Waetjen. 2020. “Special Report (Update): Impact of COVID19 Mitigation on Numbers and Costs of California Traffic Crashes.” Road Ecology Center UC Davis, Apr. 2020. https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_415.pdf
  43. Shimer, Robert. 2007. “Mismatch.” The American Economic Review 97, no. 4 (2007): 1074–1101. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.4.1074.
  44. Telework Enhancement Act, 5 U.S.C. § 6501 (2010).
  45. Tulshyan, Ruchika, 2021, “Return to Office? Some Women of Color Aren’t Ready,” The New York Times, June 23, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/us/return-to-office-anxiety.html
  46. University of Chicago. 2014. "Longer Commutes Disadvantage African-American Workers." ScienceDaily. Accessed July 13, 2021. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140215122416.htm.
  47. van Ommeren, Jos N, and Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau. 2011. “Are Workers with a Long Commute Less Productive? An Empirical Analysis of Absenteeism.” Regional Science and Urban Economics 41, no. 1: 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2010.07.005.
  48. Zeidner, Rita. 2020. “Coronavirus Makes Work from Home the New Normal.” Society for Human Resource Management, March 21, 2020. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/remote-work-has-become-the-new-normal.aspx.
Ashley E. Orr is a Ph.D. Student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College. Ashley researches at the intersection of labor economics, urban economics, and public policy. A first-generation college graduate, Ashley earned a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Oxford, England, where she studied funded by the Rhodes Scholarship. She also holds a BS in Mathematics and BA in Economics from Youngstown State University.
 
Tamara Savage is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work is at the intersection of emerging technologies and public policy, and her dissertation research is focused on improving technology forecasting by including policy, economic, and social factors in forecasts. Tamara has previously worked for the federal government and in industry. She holds a BS in Engineering and Literature from Harvey Mudd College.

​Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE1745016.
 
Disclaimer
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
DISCLAIMER: The findings and conclusions published herein are solely attributed to the author and not necessarily endorsed or adopted by the Journal of Science Policy and Governance. Articles are distributed in compliance with copyright and trademark agreements.

ISSN 2372-2193
ISSN 2372-2193