A study based on a survey of over 800 white-collar teleworkers found that fostering a sense of trust among remote workers is crucial in reducing stress and burnout.
The feeling of being under surveillance negatively affected outcomes such as burnout, work-family conflicts, technostress, job satisfaction, and low social integration.
The study emphasizes the importance of organizational trust as the most fundamental factor in enhancing the benefits of telework. Establishing a telework culture based on openness, trust, and a participative process involving both managers and employees can reduce workers' feelings of increased surveillance in remote-work arrangements.
The study highlights the psychological consequences of surveillance and electronic performance monitoring and suggests the need for new communication methods to maintain employee commitment and empathetic exchange between staff and leaders.