Hybrid schedules tend to improve how workers feel about their jobs and make them less likely to leave, but research shows employees who work from home full time could face higher rates of anxiety and loneliness, The Wall Street Journal reported June 13.
“There seems to be a Goldilocks effect with remote work and happiness,” Adolfo Cuevas, PhD, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at New York City-based New York University, told the Journal. “Working from home some of the time provides flexibility and work-life balance benefits, without the social isolation that can accompany being fully remote.”
Stanford (Calif.) University economics professor Nicholas Bloom, PhD, conducted a six-month study of 1,612 employees at a technology company and found that job satisfaction improved significantly and quit rates dropped by a third among hybrid workers compared to those in the office five days a week — with the strongest benefits for women and employees with longer commutes, the Journal reported.
Roughly a quarter of paid days in the U.S. in April were worked from home, according to a May update on an ongoing survey between ITAM, Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. Among 42,111 U.S. workers, information and technology companies averaged the most remote days at 2.2 per week, while healthcare and social assistance fell toward the middle at 1.29 days per week.
That reflects the reality that many direct patient care roles cannot be done remotely. Still, healthcare leaders have pointed to flexible scheduling as a key lever for recruiting and retaining employees in non-clinical roles.
Among full-time employees surveyed between May 2025 and April, 62% were fully in-person, 26% were hybrid and 12% were fully remote. Healthcare respondents tracked closely: 61% fully on-site, 22% hybrid and 17% fully remote.
That breakdown aligns with what hospital and health system chief human resources officers have said recently — hybrid and remote roles remain important for filling key positions, with a growing emphasis on hybrid over fully remote arrangements.
The numbers bear that out at major systems. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare had 16,921 open roles on its website as of June 8, with 150 designated as “work from home.” Chicago-based CommonSpirit had 5,272 open positions, with 98 labeled “remote.” At Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, 2,355 total job openings included 362 listed as “flexible” and 32 as “remote.”
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