Who Really Benefits From Remote Work?

The prevailing narrative of remote work has often been boiled down to: Workers love it, and bosses hate it. But according to Natalia Emanuel, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it may not be that simple. Emanuel co-authored a study, looking at software engineers at an unnamed Fortune 500 company where half of the workers were functionally remote. What she found was that there were varying tradeoffs for each scenario—working remotely or working in the office—depending on an employee’s age, experience, gender, and more. So was the Great Remote-Work Experiment a success? That’s what the first episode of The Atlantic’s Good on Paper podcast—hosted by Jerusalem Demsas—dives into. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices