Beyond Borders: Building Employee Loyalty in Remote Work

The digital transformation of workplaces has accelerated remote work adoption, reshaping traditional employment dynamics. While remote work offers benefits such as flexibility and productivity, it also raises concerns about employee engagement, workplace culture, and long-term organizational commitment. Post-pandemic, organizations have adopted divergent strategies, with some embracing remote work and others enforcing partial office returns, reflecting ongoing debates about its sustainability. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews with 15 experts and thematic coding, we identify ten key loyalty factors. The findings reveal that while remote work is now an expected norm in many industries, particularly IT, it is not a direct driver of employee retention. Instead, factors such as the degree of flexibility, managerial support, communication, and digital infrastructure play a crucial role. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of organizational commitment in remote settings, offering theoretical insights and practical recommendations for fostering long-term employee engagement in digitally driven workplaces.