The Covid-19 pandemic forced a majority of employees to work remotely. As the pandemic subsided, it became a question of interest how returning to the office affects employee stress levels. Management theory offers viable explanations for both a stress-increasing and a stress-decreasing effect. Using a differences in differences approach, we test two competing hypotheses: Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), returning to office might drain employees’ resources and account for a stress-increasing effect. Conversely, bridging COR with boundary theory (Ashforth et al., 2000), returning to office might help employees reinstate boundaries between work and private domains, accounting for better protection of recovery and leisure and, therefore, helping mitigate stress. Using latent class mixed models, we identify two classes of employees: Employees who gradually return to office after the lift of mandatory remote work (N = 274) and employees who continue working remotely (N = 221). We measured their stress at seven points in time (three before and four after the lift of mandatory WFH). Using a differences-in-differences approach with a unit fixed effects model, we demonstrate a reduction in stress levels in the return-to-office group compared to the remote-work group. Our findings demonstrate that elevated levels of remote work might be a hazard to employees’ mental health that needs to be investigated.
