Physical, Remote and Virtual Workplaces

Where people work is central to their work experience. Both on-site and remote workplaces offer opportunities to honor dignity as well as potential dignity challenges

The workplace itself—whether physical, remote, or distributed—impacts dignity.

Where people work is central to their work experience. Opportunities to honor dignity (and the potential for dignity challenges) exist in all on-site and virtual workplaces. While working from home (or other remote locations) became more common due to COVID-19 in some industries, it has been repeatedly embraced by employees (for at least some of the work week), including globally, and is expected to be long-lasting to varying degrees by most employers, and many workers and organizations must exercise care to ensure employees’ dignity is not diminished in virtual versus physical locations.


Safety is core to dignity, and that includes workplace safety. As the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer found, COVID-19 deepened employee focus on workplace safety and how trust is built between organizations and their employees.

The key organizational functions that play a role:

  • Human resources teams

  • Facilities/real estate/operations teams

  • Mobility teams

  • Inclusion and diversity teams

What the organization can do: Actions

1. Focus on the physical workplace.

2. Remember to focus on virtual and remote workplaces.

3. Use data to better understand work trends in remote, hybrid, and physical locations.

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