Managing Virtual Workers—Strategies for Success

The dramatic increase in virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic boosted organizational capacity for virtual work, and is likely to result in a long-term increase in the number of employees working remotely. Although virtual work has obvious advantages for both employees and organizations, it comes with many challenges. In this article, we identify the challenges inherent in virtual work today and describe their negative impact on employee stress, well-being, and performance. We argue that managers must be proactive in addressing these challenges in order to fully leverage the benefits of virtual work. We offer concrete strategies that they can use to counter the problems commonly encountered by virtual workers.