Strong employee-leader relationships are crucial for organizational success, but the shift to remote and hybrid work has made maintaining these relationships more challenging. The lack of regular face-to-face interaction increases the risk of miscommunication regarding job tasks or performance, ultimately eroding trust. Given these challenges, this research (Golden & Ford, 2025) examines how a leader’s work-from-home habits influence employee relationships and trust, specifically affect-based trust, which is built on emotional connection and reliability.
TRUST IN WORK-FROM-HOME LEADERS
Through three studies of working adults, the researchers found that leaders working extensively off-site were associated with lower employee trust, largely because remote leaders feel more abstract and distant to their employees. Additionally, the study found that when off-site leaders closely monitor employees, trust declines even further, suggesting that excessive oversight can exacerbate the negative effects of remote leadership.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
These findings highlight the importance of balancing remote work flexibility with trust-building efforts to maintain strong manager-employee relationships. To mitigate the negative effects of leaders working from home, organizations should consider the following strategies:
- Encourage periodic in-person meetings or check-ins to maintain a sense of connection and visibility. Trust may suffer when employees only interact with their managers online.
- Provide training on effective remote leadership, emphasizing autonomy and outcome-based management rather than micromanagement. For example, leaders who attempt to compensate for their physical absence through excessive oversight may further damage employee trust.
Golden, T. D., & Ford, M. T. (2025). How Much Do We Trust Remote Managers? Examining Follower Trust, Construal, and Performance. Personnel Psychology. Advance online publication.
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