TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Arenas, Andreu
AU  - Bosch, Marc
AU  - Frias, Nerea
        TI  - WFH and Productivity: Evidence from the Judiciary
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18795
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18795
        AB  - We estimate the effect of work from home (WFH) on public-sector productivity by evaluating a mandatory return-to-office (RTO) policy in the Catalan judiciary. Leveraging cross-court variation in pre-mandate WFH intensity, difference-in-differences estimates show that terminating WFH reduced procedural output by 5.6 percent, with no offsetting changes in document quality or absenteeism. Evidence from a multi-stakeholder survey suggests a multitasking reallocation: filing tasks are performed on a digital platform and become easier under WFH, whereas coordination with lawyers is synchronous and harder to monitor. WFH thus shifted effort toward filing tasks and away from coordination. Perceived impacts follow a gradient: case managers and supervisors, who benefit from bureaucratic efficiency, are positive about WFH, while lawyers, who depend on service coordination, are clearly negative.
        KW  - WFH
KW  - public-sector productivity
KW  - multitasking
KW  - judiciary
        ER  -