The Psychology of Better Work: Why Remote Work, Rest, and Shorter Weeks Help Us Thrive

Revolutionizing Work: Psychology's Role in Shaping the Future

In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston digs into the psychology and future of work. The discussion highlights the benefits of remote and flexible work, shorter work weeks, universal basic income, and the importance of rest in creating healthy and productive work environments. Leslie explains how outdated work models are being challenged by new data and psychological insights, emphasizing that autonomy, flexibility, and psychological safety are key to higher productivity and well-being. The episode also critiques the motivations behind return-to-office mandates and the misuse of AI for layoffs, advocating for a shift toward work models that prioritize human flourishing.

00:00 Introduction: The Future of Work
01:02 The Benefits of Remote Work
03:00 The Push for Office Return
06:37 AI and Workforce Changes
08:24 The Four-Day Work Week
10:56 Universal Basic Income Experiments
13:13 The Importance of Rest
18:16 Psychological Safety and Team Dynamics
20:50 Rethinking Work Structures
23:12 Conclusion: Life First, Work Second

Resources:

American Psychological Association. (2021). 2021 Work and Well-being Survey. 

Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 630(8018), 920–925. 

Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2015). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165–218. 
Boston Consulting Group. (2025, February 4). GenAI doesn't just increase productivity. It expands capabilities. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/gen-ai-increases-productivity-and-expands-capabilities
CNBC. (2025, July 22). In recent layoffs, AI's role may be bigger than companies are letting on. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/20/in-job-losses-ais-role-may-be-bigger-than-companies-say.html
CNBC. (2025, October 19). Companies are blaming AI for job cuts. Critics say it's a 'good excuse' https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/19/firms-are-blaming-ai-for-job-cuts-critics-say-its-a-good-excuse.html

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Plenum Press.

Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine.

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. 
Fortune. (2025, August 8). AI-driven layoffs are on the rise as the job market shrinks for recent grads. https://fortune.com/2025/08/08/ai-layoffs-jobs-market-shrinks-entry-level/

Guðmundsson, H. J. (2021). Going public: Iceland's journey to a shorter working week. Autonomy & Alda. 

Haraldsson, G., Kellam, J., & Trickett, R. (2024). On firmer ground: Iceland's ongoing experience of shorter working weeks. Autonomy & Alda. 

Hersey, T. (2022). Rest is resistance: A manifesto. Little, Brown Spark.

Kangas, O., Jauhiainen, S., Simanainen, M., & Ylikännö, M. (Eds.). (2020). The basic income experiment 2017–2018 in Finland: Preliminary results. Reports and Memorandums of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2019:9. 

Lee, D.-W., & Ko, I.-S. (2023). Association of long commute time with mental health: A cross-sectional study using Korea Working Conditions Survey. Journal of Transport & Health, 32, 101659. 

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. 

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78

Sandow, E. (2011). On the road: Social aspects of commuting long distances to work [Doctoral dissertation, Umeå University]. DiVA.

Schor, J., Gu, G., Naidu, S., Rooney, R., Rodenhiser-Hill, J., West, K., Hocquet, L., Hunt, K., Shaughnessy, T., & Gursoz, E. (2023). The results are in: The UK's four-day week pilot. Autonomy.

Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner.

West, S., Castro Baker, A., Samra, S., & Coltrera, E. (2021). Preliminary analysis: SEED's first year. Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration.
World Economic Forum & PwC. (2024, November). Leveraging generative AI for job augmentation and workforce productivity. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/wef-leveraging-generative-ai-for-job-augmentation-and-workforce-productivity-2024.pdf
World Economic Forum. (2025). The Future of Jobs Report 2025. https://www.weforum.or

Episode Transcript

Leslie Poston (00:11):
Welcome back to PsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston. And today, we'retackling the future of work and
the psychology behind it. Ifyou've noticed more and more
companies demanding peoplereturn to the office, you're not
alone. Executives keep sayingit's about culture,
collaboration, and productivity,but the evidence tells a

(00:34):
different story.
In fact, study after study showsthat remote and flexible work,
four day weeks or even thirtytwo hour weeks, universal basic
income, and prioritizing restand health all lead to better
outcomes for workers, families,and, yes, even for companies. So
why the push to go backward? Andwhat does psychology tell us

(00:56):
about why these outdated modelswon't stick? Let's get into it.
Let's start with remote workitself.
The data is clear. Flexibilitymatters. Research over the past
decade has consistently foundthat employees working from home
report higher satisfaction, lessstress, and even higher output

(01:19):
in some cases. A 2015 experimentwith a Chinese travel agency
found that remote workers werenot only more productive,
completing 13% more calls thantheir office counterparts, they
were also significantly happierand less likely to quit. By
2024, research published inNature showed that hybrid

(01:40):
working arrangements improvedretention without damaging
performance.
These aren't outliers. They'reconsistent findings across
multiple studies and contexts.This tracks with decades of
psychological research onautonomy. According to self
determination theory, developedstarting in the 1980s, autonomy

(02:01):
is one of the three fundamentalpsychological needs, along with
competence and relatedness. Whenpeople feel in control of their
own schedules and environments,they experience greater
intrinsic motivation.
They do better work, and theyfeel better about doing it. And
it's not just about convenience.It's about psychological safety,

(02:22):
self worth, and trust. Whencompanies offer flexible work,
they're not just giving peopletime back. They're signaling
that they trust their workers tomanage themselves.
They're saying we hired you foryour judgment and your skills,
and we believe you will use themwell. That trust pays real
dividends in loyalty andengagement as well as impact on

(02:45):
the bottom line. Thepsychological contract between
employer and employee onlystrengthens when autonomy is
respected. It weakensdramatically when it's withdrawn
arbitrarily. So why are weseeing a push back into the
office?
Some leaders genuinely believethe old myths about productivity

(03:08):
that if they can't see youworking, you must not be
working. But the data doesn'tsupport this anxiety. Research
shows that return to officemandates often reduce employee
engagement and retention ratherthan improving them. Workers
perceive these mandates asunfair, especially after proving
they can perform effectivelyfrom home. From a psychological

(03:31):
standpoint, this makes perfectsense.
Perceived fairness andprocedural justice are
foundational to organizationaltrust. When policies feel
arbitrary or punitive,especially after employees have
adapted successfully to newarrangements, it violates that
sense of fairness. The result isresentment, disengagement, and a

(03:52):
search for the exit. But here'swhere it gets a little darker.
One quiet truth is that manycompanies use return to office
mandates as a form of forcedlayoff.
They know some workers can't orwon't come back because of
geography, caregivingresponsibilities, disability
accommodations, or health risk.By mandating attendance,

(04:15):
companies can cut headcountwithout the bad press, severance
costs, or legal complications ofannouncing layoffs. It's a
strategic attrition play dressedup as a culture initiative. From
a psychological perspective,this strategy is disastrous for
everyone who stays. It erodestrust completely.

(04:36):
It breathes resentment andanxiety, and workers know when
they're being manipulated. Theymay stay for a while out of
financial necessity, but theloyalty is gone. The
psychological contract has beentorn up. These employees become
the walking dead, present inbody but checked out mentally
and emotionally. And let's notforget the other major driver,

(04:59):
money.
Companies are sitting on longcommercial leases, expensive
office build outs, and downtownreal estate investments that
look increasingly foolish.Rather than admit the mistake
and adapt, executives doubledown. They force employees back
to justify the expense. This isclassic loss aversion combined

(05:21):
with the sunk cost fallacy. Lossaversion describes how losses
loom larger than equivalentgains in decision making.
Executives fear admitting thatbillions sunk into office space
might no longer make sense as anoffice or might be better used
as affordable housing. Thatadmission feels like failure. So

(05:42):
instead of adapting to newinformation and changing
circumstances, they force theiremployees back. Sometimes they
even use RTO as camouflage forreducing headcount, two birds,
one stone. The problem with thisstrategy is it treats employees
like pawns on a balance sheetrather than people with agency

(06:03):
and options.
The long term cost of this shortterm avoidance is cultural
erosion and talent flight. Thebest workers, the ones with the
most options, leave first afterthis kind of pseudo layoff. What
remains is the less engaged,less capable workforce that we
referenced earlier and areputation as an employer that

(06:25):
prioritizes real estate andmoney over people. Workers don't
forget being sacrificed topreserve someone else's bad
investment. And now we're seeinganother excuse emerge,
artificial intelligence.
In 2025 alone, over a 130,000tech workers have been laid off
with companies citing AI drivenrestructuring as the cause. With

(06:49):
companies citing AI drivenrestructuring as the reason.
Even more layoffs have happenedwithout that explicit statement
with AI hinted at as the reason.But critics point out that many
of these same companiesoverhired during the pandemic
and are now using AI as aconvenient scapegoat for
necessary correction. Ratherthan admitting to their own poor

(07:12):
planning, they're trying toblame the technology.
What's particularly revealing isthe language they're using.
Vague terms like optimization,efficiency, or realignment,
trying to obscure what's reallyhappening. And here's the
psychological disconnect. AIcould be deployed to augment
human workers, enhancingproductivity in ways that could

(07:36):
enable the shorter work weeksand better work life balance
that studies have shown workswell. Research on human AI
collaboration shows substantialpotential for expanding worker
capabilities rather thanreplacing them entirely, but
that would require viewingemployees as assets to invest in
rather than costs to eliminate.

(07:58):
It would mean using productivitygains to improve quality of life
rather than simply paddingcorporate profit margins. The
choice to use AI for masslayoffs rather than workforce
enhancement reveals the sameshort term financially driven
thinking that drives RTOmandates in general. It's not
about what's possible. It'sabout what's easiest for the

(08:20):
bottom line this quarter. If theRTO push represents a backward
step, then the four day workweek represents the future.
Iceland ran one of the mostextensive experiments in the
world between 1539 involvingover 2,500 workers or about 1%

(08:40):
of the country's workingpopulation. Workers shifted from
a forty hour week to a thirtyfive or thirty six hour week
with no pay cut. The resultswere remarkable. Productivity
not only held steady, but inmany cases improved. Stress and
burnout fell significantly.
Job satisfaction went up, andworkers reported better work

(09:01):
life balance and more time forfamily, hobbies, and rest. More
recently, The UK ran a largescale pilot in 2022 involving 61
companies and about 2,900workers across multiple
industries. After six months,92% of the companies decided to
keep the four day week. Employeewell-being scores improved

(09:24):
dramatically. Burnout andfatigue decreased.
Anxiety and stress symptomsdropped. Companies reported that
revenue stayed stable or evenincreased during the trial
period. Turnover fell by anaverage of 57% compared to the
same period the previous year.The psychological logic is

(09:44):
straightforward. Rest is not theopposite of work.
Rest is what makes sustained,creative, effective work
possible. Our brains aren'tdesigned for constant output. We
need recovery time toconsolidate learning, process
information, and restorecognitive resources. When people
have more time for theirfamilies, hobbies, and

(10:05):
communities, they bring moreenergy and focus to their jobs.
They're less likely to burn out,and they're more engaged when
they are working.
There's also an equity dimensionhere that deserves our
attention. Studies of the fourday work week show improvements
in gender equity withinhouseholds. When both partners
have more non work time, thedistribution of domestic labor

(10:28):
becomes more balanced. Womenreport being able to engage more
fully in both paid and unpaidwork without the crushing weight
of doing it all. Men reportbeing more involved in
caregiving and householdmanagement.
The rigid structure of the fiveday, forty plus hour week has
always disadvantaged caregiverswho are disproportionately

(10:49):
women. Shorter workweeks beginto correct that imbalance.
Universal basic incomeexperiments point in the same
direction. Finland ran a twoyear trial from 2017 to 2019,
giving 2,000 randomly selectedunemployed people a guaranteed

(11:09):
monthly payment of €560 with nostrings attached. The results
showed better mental health,less stress, higher trust in
institutions, and greater lifesatisfaction among recipients
compared to the control group.
Critically, the guaranteedincome didn't reduce motivation
to work. Recipients were just aslikely to find employment as the

(11:32):
control group, but theyexperienced significantly less
anxiety and financial stressduring the process. In The
United States, Stockton,California ran the SEED program
or Stockton Economic EmpowermentDemonstration, giving a 125
residents $500 per month for twoyears with no restrictions.

(11:54):
Critics predicted the moneywould be wasted on frivolities,
and they were wrong. Recipientspaid down their debt, bought
food, covered utility bills, andinvested in education and child
care.
The psychological benefits weresubstantial. Full time
employment among recipientsincreased. Anxiety and
depression scores dropped, andresidents and recipients

(12:18):
reported feeling more hopefulabout the future and more
capable of handling financialshocks. This shouldn't surprise
anyone familiar with thehierarchy of needs theory by
Maslow. When basic survival istaken care of and you know you
can feed your family, keep aroof over your head, you have
the psychological space to thinkbeyond immediate threats.

(12:40):
This allows you to plan andinvest in relationships and take
risks that might improve yoursituation. Scarcity doesn't just
affect your bank account. Itshrinks your mental bandwidth.
It keeps you in a state ofconstant vigilance and stress.
Security expands that mentalbandwidth.
It lets you think clearly andact strategically rather than

(13:01):
reactively. UBI is basically alarge scale stress reduction
intervention with downstreameffects on health,
relationships, and economicparticipation. Rest is another
piece of this puzzle we'vementioned. Neuroscience research
has shown repeatedly that restisn't wasted time. Sleep,

(13:23):
downtime, and recovery periodsallow our brains to consolidate
memories, generate creativesolutions, and regulate our
emotions.
Research on sleep illustrateshow even a single night of poor
rest impairs attention, workingmemory, and problem solving.
Chronic sleep deprivation islinked to everything from

(13:43):
cardiovascular disease to mentalhealth disorders and decreased
immune function. Rest isn'toptional. It's a biological
necessity. But beyond theneuroscience, there's also a
cultural and politicaldimension.
Activist and theologian TriciaHersey, founder of the Knapp
ministry, argues that rest is aform of resistance against

(14:05):
systems that exploit humanlabor. In her work, which draws
on Black liberation theology andsocial justice tradition, rest
becomes a radical act ofreclaiming humanity in a culture
that treats people as units ofproduction. The glorification of
hustle, the shame around meetingdowntime, the expectation of
constant availability aren'tnatural or inevitable. They're

(14:29):
cultural choices that servespecific power structures. For
marginalized communities inparticular, rest becomes both a
health necessity and a politicalstatement.
Communities that have beenhistorically overworked and
undercompensated from enslavedpeople to exploited laborers to
modern service workers grindingthrough multiple jobs are

(14:50):
disproportionately harmed bycultures that devalue rest.
Choosing rest, insisting onrest, making rest accessible is
therefore an act of bothresistance and healing.
Psychology and sociology bothpoint to the same conclusion.
Rest restores us not only asworkers but as people. It allows

(15:13):
us to connect with others,engage with our communities, and
remember that we exist forreasons beyond economic
productivity.
Burnout isn't a personalfailing. It's a structural
problem that requires structuralsolutions, and rest is central
to those solutions. The benefitsof remote and flexible work

(15:36):
ripple out into families insignificant ways. Survey
research has found that thoseworking from home reported more
satisfaction with family time,better work life balance, and
less overall stress. They feltmore present with their children
and their partners.
They could manage householdresponsibilities more
effectively. They had more timefor the relationships that

(15:59):
mattered most. Commuting hasbeen consistently linked to
negative outcomes acrossmultiple domains. Research shows
that long commutes areassociated with higher blood
pressure, worse mood, increasedanxiety, and even higher divorce
rates. Studies from Sweden foundthat people with commutes longer
than forty five minutes had aforty percent higher risk of

(16:22):
divorce compared to those withshorter commutes.
Every additional minute ofcommuting time decreases job
satisfaction and increasesstrain on relationships. Cutting
out the commute isn't just aboutsaving time. It's about
eliminating a daily source ofstress and frustration that
accumulates over time. Andthere's a health benefit we

rarely talk about directly: infectious disease. Offices are (16:44):
undefined
vectors for illness.
Flu, RSV, strep throat, measles,COVID, the common cold all
spread more easily in enclosedspaces with poor ventilation,
lack of air filtration, andclose contact between people.

(17:04):
Remote work reduces exposure tothese illnesses dramatically,
which means fewer sick days,less presenteeism where people
come to work ill for no reason,and, critically, less stress for
caregivers worried aboutvulnerable family members at
home. If you have a child withasthma, an elderly parent, or an
immunocompromised partner goingthrough some kind of treatment

(17:27):
for cancer or other illnesses,the psychological relief of not
having to weigh, Do I risk myhealth and my family's health
for a job? Is enormous. Contrastthat with the undertone of some
executives who often seem toresent the families they built
because convention told them torather than genuine desire.

(17:49):
There seems to be a particularbitterness that emerges
sometimes when some leaders talkabout workers wanting to be home
with their families. It suggestsprojection, a resentment of
their own choices being imposedon others. Flexible work is not
just about convenience. It'sabout keeping people healthy and
relationships strong andacknowledging that people have

(18:10):
lives outside of work and thoselives matter. One of the most
influential studies of teamdynamics comes from Google's
project Aristotle.
After years of analysisinvolving hundreds of teams,
researchers found that thesingle best predictor of team
performance wasn't rawintelligence, technical

(18:32):
expertise, or even time spenttogether. It was psychological
safety the sense that you cantake risks, share ideas, admit
mistakes, and be yourselfwithout fear of punishment or
humiliation. Research onpsychological safety defines it
as a climate where people feelcomfortable being and expressing

(18:53):
themselves. In psychologicallysafe environments, people speak
up with concerns, ask for helpwhen needed, and offer
dissenting opinionsrespectfully. Innovation happens
because people aren't afraid topropose unusual ideas.
Problems get solved fasterbecause people aren't hiding
their failures. Flexible workstructures, shorter hours, and

(19:15):
universal basic income allcontribute to this safety. They
create a context where peoplecan breathe, where they aren't
constantly in fight or flightmode, and where they feel
trusted by their organizations.When you're not worried about
losing your job for asking towork from home or being judged
for needing mental health timeor penalized for having

(19:36):
caregiving responsibilities, youcan focus on just doing good
work rather than on selfprotection. This is also deeply
generational.
Younger Gen X, Millennials, andGen Z are vocal about wanting
authenticity, balance, andmeaning at work. They watch
their parents sacrificerelationships, health, and

(19:56):
happiness for jobs that showedno loyalty in return. They saw
and lived through the twothousand eight financial crisis,
the gig economy, and thepandemic, and watched them
expose the fragility of the oldemployment contract. They're not
willing to accept work first,life second. And they're not
apologizing for it.

(20:17):
These generations want to workfor organizations whose values
align with their own. They wantflexibility, mental health
support, diverse and inclusivecultures, and work that feels
meaningful. Organizations thatignore this shift aren't just
missing a perk or failing toattract talent. They're ignoring
the foundation of future highperformance. Psychological

(20:40):
safety isn't a soft skill.
It's strategic. And it requiresstructures that respect people's
full humanity, not just theirproductive capacity. Step back
for a moment and ask, why do wework the way we do? So many of
our assumptions about workhours, office locations, and

(21:00):
productivity metrics are relicsof the industrial era. In fact,
unions gave us the eight hourworkday, the five day week, and
the central office.
They were all designed to solveproblems on the factory floors
and assembly lines wherephysical presence and
synchronized schedules werenecessary for production, but

(21:22):
companies and bosses mistreatedand overworked workers in unsafe
conditions. Knowledge work, aswe know it today, is
fundamentally different andrequires creativity,
collaboration, and deep focus,none of which are best supported
by rigid schedules and constantsurveillance. And don't get me
wrong. We still need thoseguardrails on companies so they

(21:45):
don't abuse workers that must bephysically present. And in fact,
we could do a whole episode onhow to solve some of the
problems we uncovered in thepandemic's early days faced by
essential workers, serviceworkers, health care workers,
and teachers.
But this is about office work.Speaking of the pandemic, still
ongoing, but early daysespecially were a brutal global

(22:08):
crisis that caused immensesuffering and loss and also
opened a window into differentways of working. Millions of
people discovered that we can doour jobs without commutes,
cubicles, or constant oversight.For many, health improved,
relationships deepened, andengagement with the community
grew. The myth that productivityrequires an office presence was

(22:31):
definitively debunked.
Rolling back these gains out offear, nostalgia, or lease
obligations is not leadership.It's regression. Real leadership
means looking at the evidenceand adapting even when it's
uncomfortable. It meansacknowledging that the early
days of the pandemic forced usinto an experiment we might

(22:52):
never have tried voluntarily,and that experiment revealed
better ways of organizing work.If work is supposed to serve
life if the purpose of economicactivity is human flourishing,
then we need to be honest aboutwhat serves life best, and the
evidence on that is clear.
We've now covered how workingfrom home, shorter weeks, basic

(23:15):
income, and rest aren't justperks or nice to haves. They're
scientifically proven ways tocreate healthier, happier, more
productive lives. The push formandatory office time is less
about culture and collaborationand more about fear, sunk cost,
and sometimes even a backdoorway to push people out without
calling it what it is. But theevidence is overwhelming.

(23:37):
Autonomy drives motivation.
Flexibility improves well-being.Rest enables sustained
performance, and psychologicalsafety predicts high performing
teens. Meeting our basic needsfrees up our cognitive
resources. These aren't radicalideas. They're just basic
psychology applied to work.
Life first, work second isn'tjust a catchy phrase. It's the

(24:01):
way forward. The question isn'twhether these models work. The
evidence already answers that.The question is whether we'll
demand them and refuse to settlefor outdated, harmful work
models.
Thanks for listening toPsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Posten, signing off. Asalways, subscribe so you don't
miss a week. And if you enjoyedtoday's conversation, share

(24:24):
PsyberSpace with a friend. Untilnext time, stay curious.