Remote work, remote-feasible jobs and worker well-being across 141 countries

Using the 2024 and partial 2025 Gallup World Poll (GWP) across nationally-representative samples of 141 countries, Dr Makridis documents the global distribution of remote work and its association with subjective well-being and employee engagement.

First, remote work adoption varies sharply across countries and closely tracks economic development: remote work is rare in poor, agrarian economies but substantial in richer, service-oriented economies, and is strongly correlated with GDP per capita and the employment share in services. Second, conditional on demographics, income, and remote-feasible job status, hybrid work is associated with a modest but robust "well-being premium" in high-income countries, whereas high-intensity remote work is linked to higher stress and no thriving premium. Third, in low-income countries, remote workers exhibit higher well-being than non-remote workers, consistent with an "elite premium" for a small, advantaged segment of the workforce. Finally, remote workers are no more likely to be actively engaged at work once I control for job type, helping reconcile the tension between high engagement and lower well-being among fully remote workers. In sum, remote work adoption tracks structural transformation and delivers well-being gains for hybrid workers in high-income countries and for fully remote workers in low-income countries, but little effect on employee engagement.

Meet our speaker and chair

Christos A. Makridis is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, senior researcher at Gallup, associate faculty at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, and holds several other academic appointments. His research is concentrated in the intersection of labor economics and emerging technologies. Christos earned his doctorates in economics and management science & engineering from Stanford University.

Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis is Director of the LSE Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus - Hellenic Observatory, Professor in Political Economy and Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies at the European Institute, LSE.

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

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LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.