An investigation of individual-level telework arrangements in the COVID-era

With work arrangements experiencing dramatic changes over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possibility that altered work arrangements may persist well into the future, the implications of teleworking on activity-travel behavior are potentially profound. This paper aims to substantially add to the body of knowledge about the present and future of telework in the wake of the pandemic through a rigorous analysis of telework arrangements between two distinct time periods. The paper focuses on three key aspects of telework, including whether to telework or not, frequency of telework, and location of telework. Behavioral data for this study is derived from a workplace location choice survey conducted across Texas in February-March 2022, which included a recall component to obtain workplace location choice information in the pre-pandemic period. The evolution of telework arrangements between the pre-and after-pandemic periods is explored through a joint model system estimated using a joint multivariate methodology. Results show that, After COVID, the population of workers is generally inclined toward a hybrid work arrangement, with an overall tendency to engage in a higher frequency of teleworking than Before COVID. Finally, teleworkers have a higher propensity to work only from home as opposed to working only from a third workplace or from a combination of home and a third workplace. Overall, our results indicate that telework arrangements may remain at an elevated level into the future, with home serving as the dominant telework location. These findings suggest that transportation demand forecasting models need to be updated to reflect higher levels of teleworking, as well as the heterogeneity across individuals in teleworking adoption, frequency, and location.