Remote Work, Loneliness and Mental Health

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work has become much more common. In 2023, around 28% of American employees worked remotely, compared with only 7% in 2019. For many workers, the shift has brought obvious benefits: less commuting, more flexibility and, for some people with disabilities, better access to work.

However, new research suggests that the convenience of working from home may also have hidden social and mental-health costs. A study published in Science analysed data from more than half a million American workers between 2011 and 2024, excluding the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

The researchers compared people in jobs that could be done remotely, such as software engineering, with people in occupations that normally require in-person work, such as nursing or cooking. They looked at daily activities, time spent alone, psychological distress, use of mental-health care and prescriptions for depression and anxiety medication.

The results suggest that workers in remote-friendly jobs spent about one extra hour alone each workday compared with workers in non-remotable jobs. Importantly, they did not seem to compensate for that isolation after work. In fact, the study found a relative decrease in time spent with friends after the workday.

The effect was especially strong for people who lived alone. According to the researchers, some remote workers had days with no human contact at all, not even a quick exchange with a barista or another shopper in a grocery store.

The data also suggests that isolation may have affected mental health. Compared with workers in non-remotable jobs, people who could work from home reported more mental distress, were more likely to see a mental-health professional and filled more prescriptions for depression and anxiety medication.

Still, experts warn that the findings should not be used to justify strict return-to-office mandates. The study points to a problem, but not necessarily to a simple solution. Remote work can save time and money, help parents spend more time with family and make employment more accessible.

Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, who was not involved in the study, argues that the best way to protect mental health is to let people choose where they work. Many employees value that choice highly, and previous research suggests that some would accept lower pay in exchange for remote-work options.

The article also notes important limits. The study grouped workers by whether their job could be remote, not by each person’s exact work pattern, so it cannot clearly separate fully remote work from hybrid schedules. It also studies only American workers and ends in 2024, so it cannot show whether people later adapted by building social ties outside work.