The productivity of remote workers has been in debate for longer than remote work became popular. There are lots of sensible reasons for managers to worry about how productive their teams are as everyone who can is working from home after the chaos created by COVID19.
Big companies like Microsoft says it will allow many employees to continue working from home until at least January of 2021. Other tech giants have also signaled that work-from-home will continue for some time into the future. For instance, most Google employees will have the option to work remotely through at least the summer of 2021, the company said this week–while Amazon last week extended its work-from-home option for many employees through Jan. 8, 2021.
In fact, the phrase “phoning it in,” was often used to accuse someone of an insincere or insufficient effort in the past which evolved in reference to workers transmitting messages by telephone, rather than in person. But the case is different today.
Thankfully, today’s work-from-home capabilities are much more sophisticated than simply carrying on conversations over the phone. We have access to email, chat, video conferences, cloud collaboration software, and dozens of other technologies that now make it possible for almost any office job to be done completely and remotely. This has been further aided by the autonomous project management tools and systems that promise to streamline your work, so your team can stay focused and on-task. And imagine how much more productive you’ll be when you aren’t getting pinged with notifications from ten different applications.
But the question remains: is working from home more productive than working in an office?
Remote workers would immediately tell you yes, while traditional bosses are still more likely to tell you a big no.
So what’s the truth?
It’s simple to understand why aren’t more businesses allowing it when majority of the studies seem to suggest that working from home is more productive and beneficial to mental health as well. This is all due to the factors that that have different value and understanding as per the employers.
As per Larry Alton, contributor at Forbes, these are the 6 major factors to determine the status of this ever going debate.
- Defining Productivity:
One person’s definition of productivity may not equate to another’s. Jobs that focus on measurable output, such as outbound phone calls, emails sent, or data gathered may be able to provide a quantitative figure, but that doesn’t account for quality of work.
- Limited Evidence:
Even though there have been many studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of working from home, remote work is still new, and we’re working with limited evidence.
- Remote Worker Bias:
People who like working from home are more likely to intentionally work harder to prove that working from home is a benefit to their employer. In addition, remote workers who enjoy their positions are liable to self-report an increase in productivity, regardless of whether that increase actually exists. Studying remote employees will always result in these biases, even if measured by an outside authority.
- Types of Work:
Call center work is much different than other types of work. What results in an increase in productivity for one position won’t necessarily bear the same increase for another position. Some positions simply can’t be done from home (at least for now).
- Long Term Variables:
Most of these findings are based on case studies conducted over a few months, at most. What we currently lack is a long-term study of productivity. New remote workers may be thrilled to get started, but how do their morale, productivity, and communication skills change over the course of several years?
- Individual Differences:
Some people are better remote workers than others, thanks to their discipline, willpower, home environment, or personal preferences.
In addition to all these findings, the role of the environment is inevitable in determining the productivity of remote work culture. To be specific, this practice is fully dependent on the cloud and internet hence, there’s a rare chance of success in the places and countries where digital literacy and infrastructural advancement is too poor and inconsistent.
Message for Managers
Working from home can make a worker more productive, but that isn’t a guarantee. However, it’s safe to say that, according to studies, as long as the job is one that can be performed from home, most people are more productive when working from home, but that productivity is strongly subject to the policies put in place by the employer.
Having employees work remotely can save businesses thousands of dollars per month (per employee) depending on office expenses, and could also raise employee morale, improving retention and collaboration. On top of that, remote workers take fewer sick days and less vacation time, giving them more work days overall.
Despite the evidence cited in numerous studies, the debate will continue. Working from home isn’t an option for every job, but there’s clear evidence that it can have major advantages in the right applications and with the right workers.