Psychology says people who don't like working from home and prefer the office may be seeking more than productivity

For some employees, working from home sounds ideal. There is no commute, no office noise and no need to dress formally. Yet there are people who become noticeably happier the moment they return to an office. They may find it easier to concentrate at a desk surrounded by colleagues, prefer face-to-face conversations or simply feel that home should remain a place for relaxation rather than work.

Psychology suggests that this preference is not necessarily about being old-fashioned or unable to adapt. It can reflect differences in boundary management, psychological needs, social connection, perceived structure and person-environment fit.

Psychology Says Some People Need A Clear Boundary Between Work And Home

One of the most useful explanations comes from Boundary Theory, associated with researcher Susan Clark and later work on work-family boundary management.


The basic idea is that people differ in how they separate different areas of their lives. Some prefer segmentation, keeping work and personal life clearly apart. Others are more comfortable with integration, allowing the two domains to overlap.

For someone who strongly prefers segmentation, working from the living room can feel psychologically confusing. The same space used for watching television, eating dinner or relaxing suddenly becomes an office.

Research on teleworkers has found that people use time, physical space, technology and communication as cues to manage transitions between work and home roles. This can explain why a person might say, “I can't switch off when I work from home.”

They May Rely On Environmental Cues To Get Into Work Mode

The office provides powerful contextual cues. Walking into a particular building, sitting at a designated desk, seeing colleagues and starting the morning routine can all signal that the workday has begun. Leaving the building can provide another psychological transition: work is over.

At home, those cues may disappear. For example, an employee may finish a video meeting at 6 p.m., close the laptop and then immediately see the same sofa where they relax in the evening. The physical environment has not changed, even though the psychological role is supposed to change.

Research on teleworkers has specifically examined how workers use rituals and cues to manage these micro-transitions between work and home.

Psychology Says Relatedness Can Make The Office More Appealing

Another explanation comes from Self-Determination Theory, developed by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan.

The theory proposes three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Relatedness refers to feeling connected to and supported by other people.

Working from home can provide autonomy, but it may reduce spontaneous social interaction for some workers. An office offers casual conversations, shared lunches, quick questions and the feeling of being physically part of a team.

Research examining workplace loneliness through the Self-Determination Theory framework has specifically considered the relationship between working from home, autonomy and relatedness.

This means someone who dislikes remote work may not necessarily need constant entertainment or conversation. They may simply find human presence psychologically energizing.

Some People Feel More Focused When Their Environment Has Structure

The office can also provide external structure. At home, there may be laundry, household chores, family members, deliveries, pets, television or a refrigerator only a few steps away. Even when someone has excellent self-control, these competing cues can make sustained attention more difficult.

A person who thrives on structure may therefore find an office easier because the environment communicates what is expected: this is where work happens.

This fits with research on perceived job control and boundary management, which shows that the psychological experience of flexibility is different from simply having permission to work remotely.

In other words, more flexibility does not automatically feel better for everyone.

They May Prefer Social Energy Over Physical Convenience

Some people also experience work as a social activity, rather than simply a collection of individual tasks.

A newsroom, agency, laboratory or office can provide spontaneous problem-solving that is difficult to reproduce through scheduled video calls. Someone can turn to a colleague and ask a quick question, overhear an idea or participate in an unplanned conversation.

This can be particularly relevant for employees whose jobs depend heavily on collaboration, mentoring or rapid feedback.

Research on workplace motivation suggests that relatedness, alongside autonomy and competence, is important for employee wellbeing and high-quality motivation.

Working From Home Can Blur The Psychological Meaning Of Home

For some people, home represents recovery.

It is where they sleep, eat, spend time with family and psychologically detach from professional demands. Turning the dining table into a workstation can interfere with that distinction.

Work-family border research suggests that greater permeability between work and home can contribute to conflict, particularly when boundaries are difficult to control. A study of information workers found that low flexibility combined with high boundary permeability was particularly associated with work-family conflict.

This is why an employee may genuinely prefer commuting for 45 minutes each way. The commute itself may be inconvenient, but it creates a physical and psychological transition between two roles.

The Best Work Environment Depends On Person-Environment Fit

Psychology does not support the idea that everyone should love remote work. A 2026 study examining telework, autonomy and purpose found that work modality can affect job satisfaction through psychological resources, highlighting that the relationship between remote work and wellbeing is more complicated than simply asking whether someone has flexibility.

The person who dislikes working from home may therefore be responding to a mismatch between their preferred way of working and their environment.

They may need clearer boundaries, more social connection, stronger environmental cues or simply a physical separation between professional and personal life.

So when someone says, “I actually like going to the office,” psychology does not necessarily say they are less independent. They may simply know something important about themselves: For them, work feels better when work looks and feels like work.

FAQs

Why do some people dislike working from home?

Possible reasons include a preference for clear work-home boundaries, greater need for social connection, environmental distractions, preference for structure or difficulty psychologically switching between work and personal roles.

Does disliking remote work mean someone is less independent?

No. Working preferences are not reliable measures of independence. Some people simply function better in environments that provide structure, social interaction and clear boundaries.