A recent study revealed that some managers' rejection of remote or hybrid work systems may not always be related to productivity or business interests, but rather to personal traits of some leaders, as the results showed that managers with narcissistic tendencies are the most inclined to impose a full return to offices, due to its association with their desire to enhance influence and status.

According to the British newspaper "The Independent," the study was conducted by researchers from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who performed three separate experiments over six years, involving more than 1,000 managers in major companies, examining the relationship between managers' personalities and their views on remote work by analyzing their data and subjecting them to behavioral experiments and opinion polls.

The study showed that narcissism is the most prominent reason for rejecting remote work.

The researchers found that narcissism was the only consistent factor that persistently predicted managers' rejection of remote or hybrid work—where an employee spends two to three days a week in the office and works the rest from home—compared to other personality traits studied.

The researchers summarized their results by saying: "The higher leaders' self-regard, the greater their desire for power and status, and the more they supported imposing a full return to offices."

Several previous studies have pointed to the benefits of working from home and hybrid work.

A study conducted in 2025 found that 70 percent of 26,000 workers in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas considered flexibility in working from home or the office as extremely important. The study also found that work-life balance was the most important goal for employees, surpassing pay for the first time since the survey began in 2003.

A meta-analysis of 108 studies showed several positive effects of remote work, including job satisfaction, increased commitment to the employer, improved performance, and lower employee intention to leave their jobs.