Vassiley, Alexis, Shafaei, Asadeh, Nejati, Mehran, Onnis, Leigh-Ann, and Bentley, Tim (2025) The autonomy paradox, working from home and psychosocial hazards. Journal of Industrial Relations. (In Press)

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Abstract

This article investigates the experience of knowledge workers in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, who worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand their exposure to psychosocial hazards, specifically: workload and work pace; the work-home interface and social isolation. We explored how the increased autonomy afforded by working from home fitted with workers’ actual experience during the pandemic. Drawing on interviews with 33 NSW remote workers and 19 line-managers conducted in early 2021, this article argues that the increased autonomy afforded to employees by remote work is paradoxical. Many interviewees worked longer hours and experienced work intensification, as well as an unwelcome blurring of the work and home spheres. The phenomenon of greater work output was bound up in the trust between workers and line management. Further, interviewees experienced a sense of social isolation. The potential for work intensification, blurring, and social isolation all featured in the working from home literature before COVID-19. This article provides a novel application of the autonomy paradox’ concept, by integrating it within the framework of psychosocial workplace hazards.

Item ID:	84964
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1472-9296
Keywords:	Working from home, remote work, autonomy paradox, work intensification, psychosocial hazards, COVID-19, Work from home
Copyright Information:	CC BY-NC.
Funders:	Centre for Work Health & Safety NSW (CWHS)
Date Deposited:	23 Mar 2025 23:54
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3505 Human resources and industrial relations > 350599 Human resources and industrial relations not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280106 Expanding knowledge in commerce, management, tourism and services @ 100%
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