{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,25]],"date-time":"2026-07-25T16:16:56Z","timestamp":1784996216729,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>A rising share of employees now regularly engage in working from home (WFH), but there are concerns this can lead to \u201cshirking from home.\u201d We report the results of a WFH experiment at Ctrip, a 16,000-employee, NASDAQ-listed Chinese travel agency. Call center employees who volunteered to WFH were randomly assigned either to work from home or in the office for nine months. Home working led to a 13% performance increase, of which 9% was from working more minutes per shift (fewer breaks and sick days) and 4% from more calls per minute (attributed to a quieter and more convenient working environment). Home workers also reported improved work satisfaction, and their attrition rate halved, but their promotion rate conditional on performance fell. Due to the success of the experiment, Ctrip rolled out the option to WFH to the whole firm and allowed the experimental employees to reselect between the home and office. Interestingly, over half of them switched, which led to the gains from WFH almost doubling to 22%. This highlights the benefits of learning and selection effects when adopting modern management practices like WFH.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/qje\/qju032","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,11,21]],"date-time":"2014-11-21T21:57:59Z","timestamp":1416607079000},"page":"165-218","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1420,"title":["Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment\n*"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"130","author":[{"given":"Nicholas","family":"Bloom","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Roberts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhichun Jenny","family":"Ying","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,11,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1257\/000282806777212620","article-title":"\u201cThe Polarization of the US Labor Market,\u201d","volume":"96","author":"Autor","year":"2006","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1162\/qjec.2008.123.1.219","article-title":"\u201cDoes Job Testing Harm Minority Workers? Evidence from Retail Establishments,\u201d","volume":"121","author":"Autor","year":"2008","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-8295.1998.tb02699.x","article-title":"\u201cDisruption of Office Related Tasks by Speech and Office Noise,\u201d","volume":"89","author":"Banbury","year":"1998","journal-title":"British Journal of Psychology"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B4","first-page":"915","article-title":"\u201cSocial Preferences and the Response to Incentives: Evidence from Personnel Data,\u201d","volume":"120","author":"Bandiera","year":"2005","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"729","DOI":"10.1162\/qjec.122.2.729","article-title":"\u201cIncentives for Managers and Inequality Among Workers: Evidence from a Firm Level Experiment,\u201d","volume":"122","author":"Bandiera","year":"2007","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B6","article-title":"\u201cRank Incentives: Evidence from a Randomized Workplace Experiment,\u201d","author":"Barankay"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B7","article-title":"\u201cTelecommunications 2004: Strategy, HR Practices and Performance,\u201d","author":"Batt"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1162\/0034653054638292","article-title":"\u201cThe Impact of Urban Spatial Structure on Travel Demand in the United States,\u201d","volume":"87","author":"Bento","year":"2005","journal-title":"Review of Economics and Statistics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1351","DOI":"10.1162\/qjec.2007.122.4.1351","article-title":"\u201cMeasuring and Explaining Management Practices across Firms and Countries,\u201d","volume":"122","author":"Bloom","year":"2007","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226261959.003.0002","article-title":"\u201cWork-life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity,\u201d","volume-title":"International Differences in the Business Practice and Productivity of Firms","author":"Bloom","year":"2009"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1093\/qje\/qjs044","article-title":"\u201cDoes Management Matter: Evidence from India,\u201d","volume":"128","author":"Bloom","year":"2013","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"835","DOI":"10.1111\/jeea.12094","article-title":"\u201cThe New Empirical Economics of Management,\u201d","volume":"12","author":"Bloom","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of the European Economic Association"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","article-title":"\u201cRobust Inference with Multi-Way Clustering,\u201d","author":"Cameron","DOI":"10.3386\/t0327"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B14","article-title":"\u201cThe Call Center Industry in China,\u201d","author":"Chinese Call-Center Operation and Management"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1063","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.54.6.1063","article-title":"\u201cDevelopment and Validation of Brief Measures of Positive and Negative Affect: The PANAS Scales,\u201d","volume":"54","author":"Clark","year":"1988","journal-title":"Journal of Personal Social Psychology"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B16","article-title":"\u201cWork-life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility,\u201d","author":"Council of Economic Advisors","year":"2010"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B17","article-title":"\u201cNine Facts about American Families and Work,\u201d","author":"Council of Economic Advisors","year":"2014"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"355","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2012.04.009","article-title":"\u201cThe Effects of Telecommuting on Productivity: An Experimental Examination. The Role of Dull and Creative Tasks,\u201d","volume":"84","author":"Dutcher","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1611","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.96.5.1611","article-title":"\u201cThe Hidden Costs of Control,\u201d","volume":"96","author":"Falk","year":"2006","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1086\/497818","article-title":"\u201cClean Evidence on Peer Effects,\u201d","volume":"24","author":"Falk","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Economics"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B21","first-page":"303","article-title":"\u201cAggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence,\u201d","volume-title":"New Developments in Productivity Analysis","author":"Foster","year":"2000"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"394","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.98.1.394","article-title":"\u201cReallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?,\u201d","volume":"98","author":"Foster","year":"2008","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B23","article-title":"\u201cCtrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services,\u201d","author":"Garvin"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"680","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400845354-019","article-title":"\u201cWhat Do Managers Do? Persistent Performance Differences in Seemingly Similar Enterprises,\u201d","volume-title":"The Handbook of Organizational Economics","author":"Gibbons","year":"2013"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B25","article-title":"\u201cEmployees Belong in Cities, Not Just in Cubicles,\u201d","author":"Glaeser"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"501","DOI":"10.2307\/1905380","article-title":"\u201cHybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change,\u201d","volume":"25","author":"Griliches","year":"1957","journal-title":"Econometrica"},{"key":"2019111116445507300_qju032-B27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1177\/001979399004300308","article-title":"\u201cShirking or Productive Schmoozing: Wages and the Allocation of Time at Work,\u201d","volume":"43","author":"Hamermesh","year":"1990","journal-title":"Industrial and Labor Relations 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