Study on the Impact of Remote Work: Toward Sustainable HRM

The landscape of work and workrooms is dynamic. The remote work concept has existed since the 20th century but was scattered. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst, shifting the masses to work from home to avert transmission of the virus and remain productive. Presently, employers and employees are embracing this remote working culture and most of the sectors are continuing to work remotely or in hybrid mode. This chapter aims to offer readers a comprehensive explanation of the remote work trend, the evolution and growth of remote work culture, the drivers of remote work culture adoption, the challenges encountered by HR managers and remote workers, how the characteristics of the remote work environment align with the sustainable development goals of organizations, and how the inclusion of progressive technology, specifically artificial intelligence, in human resource management functions to handle remote employees may contribute to sustainable HR practices. To explore the distinct dimensions of remote work, preexisting published literature has been analyzed. Further, the case study of Twitter offers insights into its transformation into the remote work culture, the strategies adopted by the company, and the serious impediments faced in the endeavor. Moreover, the discussion questions in the chapter lead the reader to critically investigate other dimensions. To overcome the challenges imposed by remote work, this chapter suggests the inclusion of sophisticated technology, specifically artificial intelligence, supported by human resource managers to acquire and manage talent in a way that ensures sustainable human resource management practices. This chapter has critically analyzed the attributes of remote work and examined the sustainable development goals to realize the ways in which they intersect each other as well as how remote work can be efficiently adopted for sustainable HRM.