I Can't Get No Satisfaction! Examining the Impact of Remote Work Reduction on Employee Job Satisfaction

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a global shift toward working from home (WFH), potentially reshaping workplace norms and employee expectations. As organizations began scaling back previously available WFH arrangements in the post-pandemic period, questions emerged about how such changes affect employee satisfaction. Drawing on psychological contract theory, this study examines how reductions in WFH availability influence employee job satisfaction and tests psychological contract violation as the key causal mechanism underlying this relationship. Using two complementary studies, we provide evidence that scaling back WFH availability leads to declines in employee job satisfaction after the pandemic. The first study leverages longitudinal organizational data from U.S. federal agencies spanning 2016 to 2023 and a quasi-experimental research design to examine how sharper reductions in WFH availability affect employee job satisfaction. The second study uses a scenario-based experimental design to demonstrate that reductions in WFH availability increase perceptions of psychological contract violation, which in turn reduce job satisfaction. Together, these findings highlight that post-pandemic reductions in previously available flexibility are not merely logistical adjustments, but meaningful relational changes with important implications for employee attitudes.