Prior research consistently highlights that remote work enhances employee productivity via individual-level mechanisms, such as reduced distractions and increased flexibility. The present study seeks to shift the focus of this research to the—largely overlooked—group-level effects of remote work by uncovering its detrimental consequences for a workgroup’s psychological safety climate. We analyze multi-level survey and productivity data from 1,324 employees across 72 work groups to (a) replicate previous findings on the positive relationship between individual remote work intensity (RWI) and employee productivity; and (b) extend this research by examining the potential detrimental effects of RWI at the workgroup level. We argue and find that a higher average RWI within a workgroup (i.e., workgroup RWI level) negatively impacts the group's psychological safety climate, which in turn constrains the productivity of its members (i.e., a top-down effect). This indirect relationship is moderated by the extent to which group members differ in their RWI (i.e., workgroup RWI heterogeneity). Specifically, our analyses suggest that the group-level costs of remote work may outweigh the individual-level productivity gains when RWI heterogeneity is higher (+1 SD). When RWI heterogeneity is lower (-1 SD), the net effects of remote work on employee productivity are positive.
