Wharton study finds remote work quietly drained relational capital
Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli and Jasmine Wu, a communications professor at the University of Texas at Austin, published research online in July based on interviews conducted in late 2023 with 760 employees of a global financial services firm across three countries. It found hybrid and remote arrangements reduced contact between colleagues, eroding personal relationships and, with them, coordination and collaboration.
The ledger showed tighter performance management: weekly check-ins with a boss and individual KPIs that were easier to measure and reward. What went unrecorded was the informal help, casual conversation and mentoring that new hires needed. Cappelli describes a two-tier workforce in which the veteran group shrinks and the growing group keeps work at arm's length, a cost no promotion metric captures.
Source: Knowledge at Wharton · September 29, 2026