FW-HTF-P: Connectivity and the Future of Remote Work

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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unpredicted and unprecedented levels of remote working. There is an urgency for understanding the critical issues related to creating a dynamic, flexible workforce through connectivity, technology adoption and design, and life-long learning. This Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) Planning Grant project will lead to new knowledge for optimizing the use of existing and emerging technology as well as identify technology gaps that will further improve remote work and the experience of the worker. The project team will promote the progress of science by developing a dynamic ecological model for interpreting how humans interact with other people and equipment to perform jobs remotely. This model will have potential to guide the study and design of remote work and the development of new technology for the near and foreseeable future. The project team will use outcomes from this project to inform the design of a full FW-HTF research proposal. This project will advance the national prosperity and welfare by addressing issues impacting future remote work within the context of life-long learning, access and inclusion at multiple levels, and a fundamentally dynamic perspective on work and productivity. This FW-HTF project leverages the expertise of social scientists, engineers, and health professionals to plan a dynamic ecological model that will maximize benefits and minimize problems in the ever-expanding and evolving landscape of work. Project objectives include: 1) Identify characteristics of work that are or can be done remotely; 2) Create measures of productivity that flexibly meet the employers’ and remote workers’ needs; 3) Identify the major mental and physical stressors affecting remote workers; and 4) Identify current and future major technologies that make remote work possible. The project uses a mixed-methods sequential design approach to accomplish these goals. The project team will begin with secondary data analysis of the nationally representative Pew Survey of Work Patterns During The Pandemic. Informed by the results of the secondary analysis, they will conduct workshops with managers and interviews with workers from companies varying in size and industry (e.g. education, service, manufacturing), which will touch on similar topics, but from each groups’ perspective. Finally, the team will develop a survey instrument that will be administered to a nationally representative sample through the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumer Attitudes ( a component of the Leading Economic Indicators). The nation is in the midst of a natural experiment that can provide insights to how it may be possible to optimize the potential of remote work in terms of productivity and worker well-being. This planning grant will provide the foundation for further research that can capitalize on that natural experiment to the benefit of national health, prosperity, and welfare.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.