Working from home - the big lie

[wh]

WFH's staunchest proponents just dropped a bomb: Fully remote workers are officially less productive July 6, 2023

"But their latest working paper, published by Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy and Research, delivers a blow to work-from-home advocates: Fully remote work is associated with 10% to 20% lower productivity than fully in-person work."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wfh-staunchest-proponents-just-dropped-120000722.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMdCjj9PZIMe1wMGGbyFJcOyfh7Rylk8ezgJ26XHuo2rx7agyJPhTRtNpv5BlNQpS0X19Fw1atpDr5kawUflGqph_DaQThadtWdpVGFeHNq7uYfA7mG3QmYnYTte8uHMMsL5MS4Ke-uQ-p6CIMiFnFS4c_ZDq3ZJO-6ZCgAC0Ydz

Allowing for rare exception, anyone who claims to be as productive or more productive working from home is either not being truthful or is fooling themselves. More than the productivity difference, that individual isn't available to train or mentor fellow employees, contribute to impromptu team discussions, connect socially and bond with coworkers, cover for someone, cross train, run errands, adapt to and elevate company culture, etc. Organizations that stand the test of time are relational. Working from home is purely transactional.

Does anyone have a different opinion?

[vu84v2]

I know a few people who, because they are so disciplined and extremely focused on outcomes, have greater productivity working from home (and one of them has very measurable outcomes which supports this). But overall, I agree that - for most people - fully working from home reduces productivity and decreases social capital (the latter point should really worry those who work from home because social capital leads to opportunities, which leads to even greater knowledge/experience, promotions, greater pay increases, etc.). I looked up the working paper and found that, from surveys, employees believe WFH increases their productivity by about 7.5% while senior managers believe it reduces it by 3.5% (the 10-20% is from evaluating call center workers working in the office vs. those working from home). The authors also, interestingly, find little impact on productivity for hybrid working arrangements.

[crusader05]

One thing i have found is that there's work I'd rather do from home vs that which I'd rather be in the office for. So if I have a project that I need to focus on and get done working from home is preferable because I can start work on it right away and limit distractions or getting pulled into other meetings/convos so I will finish it a  lot faster. If I have meetings though I prefer to be in the office because I can only take so much zoom.

I do think that the difference is in the middle. Flexible schedules/work from home days/four day work weeks etc are the real future. Commuting 5 days a week can get old and the flexibility of working from home because a kid is sick, or like my furnance guy is coming or I have a drs appoint in the morning, Would be nice. Let me take an 8 am meeting on zoom and then come into the office after etc.

[VULB#62]

[Backstory: Prior to retirement several years ago, I, along with my wife, partnered as independent IT consultants and project managers.  Our clients were in the midwest, east coast, west coast and Canada. Our time onsite was usually a modest percentage of the time devoted to the actual work.  The bulk of the "real" work was done from our office in our home. We did this for 15 years.  And this was pre-Covid.]

05 alludes to one other aspect that is part of the WFH dynamic which kinda impacts what people refer to as "productivity" and how it is measured.  If productivity is measured as the effective (i.e, quality) achievement of set goals and deliverables within a measurable time frame, then the WFH workstyle can take many forms that is hidden to the client (in my case) or manager (in corporate settings).  The two running jokes are the "long commute" and "working in PJs" all day. But that's not far from what makes WFH productive for many.  You can still hit objectives, spend time in crafting well-written reports or do data analysis while still being able to take a break to cut the lawn or run a quick errand, or go to the doctor, or whatever.  In fact, those breaks refresh and invigorate.

My point, and I thinks it's 05's as well, is that the WFH day can stretch to accommodate more than just work work, while still getting it done inside that day's perimeter. So instead of a condensed 8 hour day at the office (and maybe an hour commute each way), those same work hours could play out over maybe 10 or 12 hours.  Is it efficient?  Depends on how efficiency is defined. Yes, for some because they can get a lot more stuff (both work and personal) done in that time. But it can be stressful for others who have difficulty managing their time or concentrating on objectives outside of a structured physical environment, and their output, hitting deadlines, etc. sometimes suffers.   

As both 05 and 84v2 indicate, and I agree, WFH is not for everyone, and those who are uncomfortable should have the ability to choose a structured or hybrid work environment. But I would respond to the following......

Allowing for rare exception, anyone who claims to be as productive or more productive working from home is either not being truthful or is fooling themselves.

.............by saying:  There are not "rare  exceptions." There are many "exceptions" to the point where tons of people thrive and produce in WFH. And to say anyone who claims to be as or more  productive is delusional is an unfair generalization.

The all-inclusive generalization in the yahoo headline is a bit misleading and, unfortunately, does not or cannot differentiate between worker types - just that all workers studied worked full-time from home.  Bottom line, adaptable workers will be productive in WFH and a great many thrive, less adaptable ones might be productive or might hate it and underperform.  The next study needs to look at the adaptable/unadaptable worker type  breakdown 🧐

[crusader05]

One thing that I think is key is what has been touched on regarding productivity and how it is measured. I know plenty of people who sit at a desk for 8 hours in an office who have said that they discovered that when working from home they could get that same amount of work done in 5 hours. Some of it is because when you have a "I am here until x time no matter what" the incentive of getting things done faster isn't there like it is if getting all your work done means getting to relax on your couch and keep an eye on your email for the last few hours. What I have seen happen is that in work cultures where someone coming into your office can lead to a whole bunch more work WFH can feel freeing on one end but, for those who got used to being able to just pull people in or assign duties in the moment and demand immediate response (which can be an unfortunate habit of management) not having immediate access to employees gets frustrating (although they seem to love work from home when it means asking their employees to answer emails and work on things after hours).

I am sure there are a lot of jobs where WFM is not conducive or less "productive" but there are lot of ways that the traditional structure can make work unnecessarily difficulty or more taxing and many people realized that after COVID.