{
  "title": "Hybrid work: what the data says about remote collaboration",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/hybride-ce-que-les-donnees-disent-de-la-collaboration-a-distance-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-09-22",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "The debate pits productivity against presence. The available studies shift the question towards the structure of working relationships.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Complex Management",
  "place": {
    "name": "Zurich",
    "region": "Zurich",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What experiments establish",
      "point": "Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts and Zhichun Jenny Ying (2015, Quarterly Journal of Economics) ran a randomised trial in a Chinese firm: remote work was associated with maintained performance and a clear reduction in attrition."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What large-scale observation adds",
      "point": "Longqi Yang and colleagues (2022, Nature Human Behaviour) analysed collaboration data from a large firm that moved to fully remote work: the network tightened around existing strong ties, at the expense of bridges between groups."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The most common inference error",
      "point": "These studies do not contradict each other: they measure different things."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Why this matters in complex organisations",
      "point": "In a matrix organisation, the value of being on site is not supervision but the frequency of weak contacts — the ones through which you learn that another unit is already handling the problem."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical implication, verifiable in-house",
      "point": "A check requiring no instrumentation: over the last quarter, list the three most costly cross-functional decisions and identify the moment when the missing information could have travelled."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Ying",
      "year": "2015",
      "source": "Quarterly Journal of Economics"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Liang",
      "year": "2023",
      "source": "Nature"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 310,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-09-22-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/hybride-ce-que-les-donnees-disent-de-la-collaboration-a-distance",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/hybride-ce-que-les-donnees-disent-de-la-collaboration-a-distance-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/hybride-ce-que-les-donnees-disent-de-la-collaboration-a-distance-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/hybride-ce-que-les-donnees-disent-de-la-collaboration-a-distance-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/management-complexe/zurich",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/zurich",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}