Perceived to be driven by executive egos, sunk cost corporate real estate, or soft layoffs, companies such as Amazon, Google, and NBCUniversal forced many remote workers back to the office full-time. Workers valuing flexibility, autonomy, and productivity must again defend their right to work outside of a company building. Despite the evidence, many leaders falsely believe remote work is considered less effective than an in-office job. Here’s the top three remote work myths debunked.
Myth 1: Remote Work Is A Perk
The pandemic drove 48.7 million US workers to work remotely. Prior to this, fewer than 6% of Americans worked primarily from home, according to a 2019 American Community Survey. Post COVID, while some leaders capitalized on the benefits of remote work and continued this flexible work structure, others questioned it – viewing remote work as a nonessential perk. For many, remote work is a necessity. Disabled workers requiring remote work need that flexibility to stay employed. Roles previously reserved for only in-office workers opened up a more diverse talent pool. Viewing remote work as a perk that can be taken away greatly shrinks both resources and opportunities.
When flexibility is framed as a reward, a combative performance power play can emerge. Individuals will question why one employee gets remote work and another does not. Employees may compete with others to win the golden ticket of remote work. This dynamic creates a tense and political workplace culture. Fueled by the temptation of a more flexible work environment, workers may be motivated to appear as a high-performer, rather than actually doing the work.
Myth 2: Remote Work Is A Vacation
Seeing remote work as a vacation stems from mistaking visibility for productivity. Insecure managers assume that if they cannot see their team – work must not be happening. Yet the opposite is occurring. A 2021 study by the University of Houston Bauer College of Business and Department of Psychology found that 74% of pandemic remote workers felt their work hours stayed the same or increased in comparison to working in an office. Despite this, over half felt that moving remote work was a positive transition and 61% wanted to continue working remotely. This study showed positive results for employees across the board, as shown in Figure 1.
Perceived to be driven by executive egos, sunk cost corporate real estate, or soft layoffs, companies such as Amazon, Google, and NBCUniversal forced many remote workers back to the office full-time. Workers valuing flexibility, autonomy, and productivity must again defend their right to work outside of a company building. Despite the evidence, many leaders falsely believe remote work is considered less effective than an in-office job. Here’s the top three remote work myths debunked.
Vacations and time-off occur less in remote work environments. A comprehensive research analysis of 21 studies and 4,093 records by academic researchers found that telework contributes to reduced absenteeism by increasing work flexibility. Remote work being a vacation from “real work” is a common misconception quickly disproved by data and research.
Myth 3: Remote Workers Cannot Be Trusted To Work
Trust is at the forefront of the remote versus return-to-office debate. While the primary focus has been managers not trusting employees, remote work revealed more about the state of leadership than individual contributors. It uncovered that our current people management tactics are quite ineffective. Remote work requires leaders to be clear communicators and voice strategic goals effectively. The fact that companies are driving their employees back to the office illuminates a huge gap in management skills and training.
Organizations should not be sweeping people back to the office and checking badge data. If they want to truly improve their bottom line and optimize productivity, they should be assessing and tracking the managers leading remote teams. Leaders recognizing the advantages of remote work and promoting flexible work yield strong business results. Joint BCG research published in a Q3 2025 Flex Index report found that companies grew revenues 1.7x faster than mandate-driven firms from 2019–2024 (Figure 2). Trust and choice equals productivity.
Many return-to-office advocates believe remote work needs to be earned. This occurs when leaders lack the ability to trust outcomes they cannot physically observe. Myths discredit the positive results of remote work. Remote work simply means doing the job you were hired to do, in a setting that allows you to perform at your best.