Flexing the Boundaries: How Remote Work Enhances Engagement and Well-being through Work-Life Balance

Abstract

The popularity of working from home has led to changes in the workplace, but exactly how it influences individuals can depend on many factors. Job Demand–Resources (JD-R) is used as the foundation and this research investigates how remote work impacts employee engagement and well-being via work-life balance and also observes the moderating effects of flexible hours. For this study, information from 215 freelancers in Punjab, Pakistan, was used, gathered at three different times. PROCESS Model 7 indicated that remote work leads to better engagement and a happier mood only by improving workers’ work-life balance, with no immediate direct effect, indicating that this connection is fully mediated. Moreover, having flexible work hours seemed to boost the benefits of remote work on the work-life balance. They show in the remote work literature that access to resources from psychology can help explain why people perform differently and reveal the value of having greater flexibility in work hours or schedules. The study presents ideas that platform-based employers, HR managers and policy makers can use to help improve freelancer well-being and productivity while using online platforms.

Keywords: Remote work, Employee involvement, Wellness, Work-life harmony, Changeable hours, JD-R concepts and Freelancers.