| Abstract: |
The Covid-19 pandemic forced firms globally to shift workforces to working
from home [WFH]. Firms are now struggling to implement a return to working
from the office [WFO], as employees enjoy the significant benefits of WFH for
their work-life balance. Therefore many firms are adopting a hybrid model in
which employees work partly from the office and partly from home. We use
unique and detailed data from an Indian IT services firm which contains a
precise measure of innovation activity of over 48, 000 employees in these
three work environments. Our key outcomes are the quantity and quality of
ideas submitted by employees. Based on an event study design, the quantity of
ideas did not change during the WFH period as compared to WFO, but the quality
of ideas suffered. During the later hybrid period, the quantity of submitted
ideas fell. In the hybrid phase innovation suffered particularly in teams
which were not well coordinated in terms of when they worked at the office or
from home. Our findings suggest that remote and hybrid work modes may inhibit
collaboration and innovation. |