Supportive managers and spouses essential to successful working-from-home, new research

As remote and hybrid working become a permanent feature of working life, new research from Dr Can Ererdi from Henley’s World of Work Institute along with Yasin Rofcanin from the University of Bath, Mireia Las Heras from the University of Navarra and Maria Jose Bosch from ESE Business School highlights the conditions employees are most likely to thrive in when working from home. At the heart of it lies support both from their managers and from the people they live with.

Published in Business Research Quarterly, the study explores how work and home demands interact in remote working environments. Drawing on two diary studies involving 1,500 employees across Spain and Latin America and over 6,800 daily survey responses, the researchers examined how support from leaders and spouses influences stress, wellbeing and performance when work and home boundaries overlap.

Less stress, better sleep, stronger workflow

The findings show that employees who perceive their managers as supportive of flexible and remote working arrangements experience lower levels of daily stress. This reduction in stress helps employees maintain a stronger sense of workflow, enabling them to feel more engaged and absorbed in their work. In turn, this is associated with better sleep quality and lower perceptions of work intensification.

Support at home proved just as important. The researchers found that work-supportive behaviours from spouses or partners, such as helping to organise household responsibilities or creating space for work, significantly reduced employees' daily stress levels. Lower stress was linked to greater personal resource accumulation, fewer interruptions between work and family responsibilities, and higher levels of vitality and energy.

Dr Can Ererdi said about the research:

"The key message for organisations is that successful hybrid working is not simply about giving people flexibility. It is about creating the social conditions that allow that flexibility to work."

An added stressor: childcare and household responsibilities

The research also highlights that remote work experiences are not the same for everyone. Employees facing high mental demands at home, such as coordinating childcare or household responsibilities, appeared to benefit particularly from supportive leadership and were more susceptible to the negative effects of stress. The study further found that women were particularly vulnerable to remote-work stress, reflecting the continued influence of caregiving expectations and unequal domestic responsibilities.

Developing social support systems to support home working

According to the authors, the results demonstrate that successful remote and hybrid working depends on more than technology, policies or office design. Social support systems, both at work and at home, play a critical role in protecting employee wellbeing and performance. The study suggests that organisations should invest in family-supportive leadership, encourage open conversations about work and home pressures, and recognise how personal circumstances shape employees' experiences of remote work.

As businesses continue to refine hybrid working practices, the research offers a timely reminder that the boundaries between work and home remain deeply connected. What happens at home does not stay at home, and can have a profound impact on how people feel, perform and flourish at work.