This is likely welcome news to many people who have jobs that can be done remotely. But some teleworkers are juggling work with childcare and online schooling, itching to gossip with co-workers, and wanting to brainstorm ideas with a human being rather than a screenshot. Some employers, meanwhile, are concerned about productivity among out-of-sight workers. For them, telework through Covid has been pretty terrible.

I have been a work-family scholar for more than 15 years, and one of my areas of expertise is flexible work arrangements, including telework. I can say with authority that the abrupt transition to working full-time from home, set against the surreal and terrifying backdrop of a global pandemic, is not telework; it is forced telework. And it’s a far cry from what research recommends.