Work-from-Anywhere: Pathways to Black workers' well-being

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 5: Well-being and Work

Abstract

The emergence of Work-from-Anywhere (WFA), location-independent remote work, has transformed the social organization of employment, enabling workers to decouple where they live from where they work. Yet, most research on remote and flexible work has largely overlooked the experiences of Black workers, in part because they remain underrepresented in occupational fields that most readily afford remote work. This omission limits understanding of how race intersects with emerging forms of work and mobility. Moreover, while remote work is often portrayed as a pathway to balance and freedom, prior studies have shown that it can also blur boundaries between work and life, heighten stress, foster professional and social isolation, and even stigmatize those who utilize flexible arrangements. These contradictory findings raise critical questions about how WFA is experienced by marginalized groups whose labor and well-being have historically been constrained by racialized structures and geographies. This study investigates how Black Americans leverage location-independent work and how geographic flexibility influences their experiences and well-being.

Author

• Jamel Catoe, University of North Carolina at Charlotte