Remote working: why some people are less productive at home than others – new research
Has working at home during lockdown made people more productive or not? This has been the subject of some lively debate recently.
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Many companies do not routinely measure productivity. A large number will have traditionally assumed that they get the highest output when staff work longer hours or under close supervision, but remote working is clearly causing some to re-evaluate this. Major firms, for instance professional services group PwC, have been sufficiently impressed to make remote working a permanent option for their staff.
On the other hand, some business leaders insist that remote working is compromising productivity and is therefore not workable in the long term. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, for example, has dismissed it as an “aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible”. So who is right?
Surveys tend not to be good at measuring productivity objectively. The research partnership Work After Lockdown, on which I’m a co-investigator, has been trying to improve on this. We have just published the results of an ESRC-funded survey in which we asked 1,085 respondents working from home in the UK about their productivity.
We chose to use standard measure of labour productivity used by economists, output per hour worked, where output refers to the value of the goods or services in question. Using this meant we weren’t just measuring whether people were working longer hours.
We asked our respondents whether they felt that their self-reported productivity was the same, better or worse compared with the pre-lockdown period. From the results, 54% thought they got “a little more” or “much more” done per hour worked than before the lockdown.
Combined with those who reported that their productivity was the same as before lockdown, it meant that almost 90% reported that productivity had been maintained or improved – echoing the results of other UK studies. In other words, barely one in ten people reported that their productivity had gone down during lockdown. So why would working from home have made most people more productive, but some less so?
Productivity and mental health
We also questioned our respondents about their mental health, and scored them using the World Health Organization’s WHO-5 index. From plotting the results on the graph below you can see a very clear pattern, with higher productivity associated with better mental health. In fact, the mental health scores for the most productive workers in our survey were twice as high as the least productive.
Productivity and mental health of remote workers
It is not clear from our data whether poor mental health causes or contributes to a decline in productivity or whether being productive helps to boost mental health. It seems reasonable to think that both are probably true.
To explore this relationship, we looked at people’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances and their capacity to overcome setbacks or interruptions – referred to in the literature as self-regulation. We might expect people with such abilities to remain focused on a task, and be more productive as a result. Sure enough, this was supported by the data.
Over 90% of our respondents reported that they could concentrate on one activity for a long time; 94% said they were able to use the autonomy afforded them by their employer to re-order work tasks; 85% said they could control their thoughts from distracting them from the task in hand; and 83% said that they had no problem resuming a concentrated style of working after an interruption. Each of these dimensions of self-regulation were strongly positively correlated with high productivity per hour worked.
Better mental health = better output at home. Sincerely Media, CC BY-SA
It’s worth remembering, of course, that many people working from home during lockdown have been living with mental-health challenges such as isolation, money worries, home-schooling or other health problems. Clearly if organisations want to ensure that employees are productive working from home, the value of investing in measures to support psychological wellbeing is very clear.
Working in future
The social disconnection of working at home over an extended period may well erode people’s mental wellbeing and productivity in future – perhaps especially among workers who thrive on interacting with colleagues and clients to swap and shape ideas. The outgoing chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, has expressed concerns about this, and 73% of our survey respondents reported that they ideally wanted working patterns that allowed them to vary their place of work to reflect the tasks they were performing.
With this in mind, it has become very fashionable for companies to talk about “hybrid” working lately. But it’s an imprecise concept, and if businesses are to give employees clarity around what can be done at home and what needs to happen at a traditional workplace, they will need to decide which jobs truly need to be done at a particular time or location.
Getting this wrong may risk compromising the mental health of employees – for example, if prolonged remote working increases isolation or increases work intensity. It may also mean that companies never quite manage to deliver the long-term productivity gains they are hoping to secure once lockdown is over.
Surprising Working From Home Productivity Statistics (2021)
With the world discovering alternative ways to work without human contact, the work from home force is getting a facelift. Companies must cope with most non-essential workers completing their work at home. Amidst a pandemic, could your productivity working from home actually be better?
An estimate by Upwork states that 1 in 4 Americans which is over 26% of the American workforce is expected to work remotely through 2021.
Several studies over the past few months show productivity while working remotely from home is better than working in an office setting. On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive, work one more day a week, and are 47% more productive.
In a workweek, those who work at home are more consistent, work more hours, and get more done. Right away, this doesn’t sound right.
How can you be more focused while working at home? Find out how professionals manage to get more done on flexible work arrangements, not in an office setting.
Performance can increase up to 13 percent by working from home
A study by Standford of 16,000 workers over 9 months found that working from home increase productivity by 13%. This increase in performance was due to more calls per minute attributed to a quieter more convenient working environment and working more minutes per shift because of fewer breaks and sick days.
In this same study workers also reported improved work satisfaction, and attrition rates were cut by 50%.
Working Remotely Can Increase Productivity up to 77%
77% of those who work remotely at least a few times per month show increased productivity, with 30% doing more work in less time and 24% doing more work in the same period of time according to a survey by ConnectSolutions.
Before COVID-19
Letting employees work from home has been the fear of plenty of companies because they believe they will be less productive. This isn’t entirely wrong. At home, it’s easy to get distracted, procrastinate, or put in less work than those working in the office.
In 2019, a study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 24% of people that were employed did some or all of their work at home on days they worked, and 82% of people that were employed did some or all of their work at their workplace
The same study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also found that workers employed in financial operations, business, and management occupations (37%) and workers employed in professional and related occupations (33%) were more likely than those employed in other occupations to do some or all of their work from home on days they worked.
A study conducted in 2012 shows those office workers who were assigned boring tasks performed better and faster in the regular office setting. Home-life distractions are more likely to prevent productive work when you don’t enjoy the work.
But this study found more productive results when the work was more creative. In short, the fewer restraints put on a task, the quicker it will be completed.
The same study also shows an entire “office” will underperform if they each work from home. Each individual will put in the same amount of work as the next. Meaning, no individual wants to put in more work and let the others ride their coattails.
Another more recent study states that the more hours an individual works from home, the less productive they become. Those who worked full time (8 hours/day) at home are 70% less productive than those who don’t work from home.
After COVID-19
A bit has changed since 2012. Working from home has gotten easier and communication software is getting better.
Reports from surveys taken in the past couple of months show working from home is producing a better turnaround on projects, and increasing productivity.
Great Place to Work compared employee productivity from March to August of 2020, the first six months of stay-at-home orders, to the same six-month stretch in 2019. Remote work productivity was stable or increased when working remotely from home, according to a 2-year study of 800,000 employees.
Prodoscore reports an increase in productivity by 47% since March of 2020 (compared to March and April 2019), and have deciphered when people are the most productive.
The report states workers are the most productive on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and between 10:30am and 3:00pm. The average workday still reflects an 8:30am to 5:30pm schedule, and more workers are using emailing and Customer Relationship Management software to stay in contact with co-workers.
A survey by Stanford found that only 65% of Americans had internet fast enough to handle video calls. With 42% of Americans working from home and 26% working at their employer’s physical location.
A survey from March this 2020 by Airtasker shows work from home employees spent less time avoiding work (15% difference), spent 1.4 more days working each month, and took more breaks.
Workers in a home environment report they are less distracted by co-workers, spending 30 minutes less talking about non-work topics, and spend 7% less time talking to management.
The New York Times interviewed Nathan Schultz, a senior executive at Chegg, about productivity within the company now that the workforce is sheltered at home.
His first impulse was to constantly check in on employees, but once he backed off, the productivity went up, and employees started completing projects ahead of schedule.
Just because productivity is up, for now, doesn’t mean it will stay this way. The same NYT article reports some companies are seeing employees struggle with the lack of social interaction. The mental health of employees will start to hinder productivity over time decreasing employee satisfaction.
Companies like Splunk, Affirm, and Microsoft saw a large spike in productivity in the first couple of months of quarantine, but over time, the loneliness of working at a home office affects productivity and job satisfaction.
This is why many companies are now embracing a hybrid work model.
Home vs. Office: What’s the Difference?
Surveys and researchers are using the data to help understand how working from home can be more productive and enhance working hours. Several factors are different in a home setting, and these could be the reasons why some workers are more productive at home.
No commute. Whether it takes 10 minutes to drive to work or 1 hour, it saves this time when working from home. Employees can start the workday earlier if they don’t have to take the time to drive into the office. The Airtasker survey reports that, on average, a worker saves 8.5 hours a week of free time by not commuting to work. For a year, this adds up to 408 hours.
Having no commute also means more time for hobbies such as gardening or raising backyard chickens which have seen an explosion in popularity since 2020.
Less water cooler talk. Those who work from home talk less to coworkers, whether or not it’s work-related. Airtasker reports 70% of people rank work social relationships as important as getting the work done. Working from home minimizes the amount of social interaction.
More Exercise. The lack of commute and less opportunity to socialize allows remote workers to use the extra time to exercise. Regular exercise can be good on mental and physical health and is a great stress reliever. Those who work from home report exercising 30 minutes more during the workweek.
Maximum productivity. A study conducted by Ask.com found that 86% of employees prefer to work by themselves when they are trying to be as productive as possible.
Working from home and Maximizing productivity
Shifting from working in an office environment to working at home is a big change. Whereat home can you be productive? How do you stay focused? When should you start and finish? How will this affect your home life?
Below are some tips to help you or your employees be more successful working at home:
Create a comfortable workspace. Working in an office caters to keeping you focused and on track. Try to recreate this working space in your home, whether it’s turning an extra room into your office or putting a desk behind the couch. The space should be comfortable, away from added screens (TV, Xbox, etc.), and have everything you need to complete your work.
Stay organized. You might need to adopt a new organizing system or start using a day planner to make sure you stay on schedule. It’s recommended to create a weekly work schedule and list the tasks you need to complete. Staying committed to the schedule will help you create consistency and a routine.
Commit to smaller, but intense work intervals. You can be more productive when you focus intently for smaller periods of time. Spend a couple of hours timing how long you can work before getting distracted. For example, if you can work for 30 minutes before getting distracted, then continue this pace throughout the whole day. After each break, set a timer and work for the next 30 minutes uninterrupted.
Take a break. Taking regular breaks allows your brain to refocus and relax. In the Airtasker survey, 37% of the remote workers say taking regular breaks is the best way to stay productive. Use your break to get a snack, drink water, get fresh air, or check on your family. The average break time for a remote worker is 22 minutes spread out across the day.
Schedule a virtual commute. According to the New York Times, the hardest part of working from home is the loneliness and lack of social interaction. Taking your regular commute time to check in with co-workers can help support social interaction and focus your brain on the day’s work.
Working from home: Productivity and preferences
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in telework since mid-March 2020. At the beginning of 2021, 32% of Canadian employees aged 15 to 69 worked most of their hours from home, compared with only 4% in 2016.Note A change of such magnitude raises several questions. To what extent are teleworkers more or less productive now relative to when they were at their usual place of work? For those who are less productive, what are the main barriers to productivity? Once the pandemic is over, how many Canadians would prefer to work most of their hours at home or outside the home?
Answers to these questions are crucial to inform discussions about the sustainability of telework in a post COVID-19 context.
To shed light on these questions, this study uses the supplement to the Labour Force Survey of February 2021. The focus is on employees aged 15 to 64 who are new teleworkers, i.e. who usually worked outside the home prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but worked most of their hours at home during the week of February 14 to 20, 2021.Note To facilitate productivity comparisons between now and when employees were at their usual place of work, the analysis is restricted to those who have been with the same employer since at least March 2019, i.e. at least one year prior to the economic lockdown of mid-March 2020.
The vast majority of new teleworkers report being at least as productive at home as they were in their usual place of work
Of all new teleworkers, 90% reported being at least as productive, i.e. accomplishing at least as much work per hour at home as they did previously in their usual place of work. More than half (58%) reported accomplishing about the same amount of work per hour while roughly one third (32%) reported accomplishing more work per hour (Table 1). The remaining 10% mentioned that they accomplished less work per hour while working at home than they did previously in their usual place of work. Very similar trends are found for men and women.Note
The likelihood of accomplishing more work per hour varied across industries and workers’ characteristics. For example, the percentage of new teleworkers reporting doing more work per hour was relatively high in public administration (41%) as well as in health care and social assistance (45%). In contrast, the corresponding percentage was lower in goods-producing industries (31%) and educational services (25%). Likewise, unmarried individuals with no children reported less often (24%) than married individuals (35%) accomplishing more work per hour. Most of these differences remained in multivariate analyses.Note
Conclusions about how much work new teleworkers accomplish at home are, if anything, strengthened when the amount of work accomplished per day, instead of the amount of work accomplished per hour, is considered. This is the case for several reasons.
First, a large proportion (48%) of the employees who report doing more work per hour also report working longer hours per day than they did in the past. Second, virtually none of the workers who report accomplishing at least as much work per hour at home as they did previously now work shorter hours per day. Lastly, close to half (44%) of the employees who report doing less work per hour now work longer hours per day while being at home, thereby potentially offsetting—at least in part—their lower (than pre-pandemic) productivity measured on an hourly basis.Note Note
Barriers to productivity
The employees who reported doing less work per hour faced different barriers to productivity. About one in five (22%) reported a lack of interaction with co-workers as the main reason why they accomplish less work per hour (Chart 1). Close to 20% reported having to care for children or other family members. The remainder faced different challenges, such as accessing work-related information or devices (11%), having to do additional work to get things done (13%), having an inadequate physical workspace (10%), or experiencing difficulty with internet speed (5%).Note
Data table for Chart 1
New teleworkers report diverse preferences for telework
New teleworkers were also asked the degree to which they would prefer working from home or outside the home once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Eighty percent indicated that they would like to work at least half of their hours from home once the pandemic is over.Note Forty-one percent indicated that they would prefer working about half of their hours at home and the other half elsewhere while 39% preferred working most (24%) or all (15%) of their hours at home (Chart 2). The remaining 20% reported that they would prefer working most (11%) or all (9%) of their hours outside the home.
Data table for Chart 2
This diversity of preferences is observed regardless of the socio-economic groups considered.Note For example, 43% of the new teleworkers employed in large firms in the commercial sector indicated that they would like to work most or all of their hours at home once the pandemic is over. Forty-percent would prefer working half of their hours from home and the other half elsewhere. The remaining 17% would prefer working most or all of their hours outside the home.
As expected, worker’s preferences for telework are positively associated with their productivity. Of all employees who reported doing more work per hour, 57% preferred working most or all their hours at home (Table 2). This is almost twice the rate of 30% observed among other employees. Virtually all of this difference remains in multivariate analyses. This finding is important: it confirms that workers’ assessments of the amount of work they perform per hour is a strong predictor of their preferences for telework.
Of all groups considered, teachers were the most likely to prefer working most or all of their hours outside the home. Fifty-four percent of them expressed such preferences. This is three times the percentage observed for other employees (18%). Most of this difference holds in multivariate analyses.
Conclusion
Whether relatively high rates of telework will persist once the COVID-19 pandemic is over depends on at least three conditions. First, to satisfy employers’ requirements, employees must generally be as productive at home as they were in the office. Second, employees must express strong preferences for telework in a post COVID-19 context. Third, employers must be willing and able to accommodate employees’ demand for telework.
Using workers’ assessments, this study shows that, at least in February 2021, the first two of these conditions appear to be largely satisfied in Canada. Ninety-percent of new teleworkers report accomplishing at least as much work per hour at home as they did in the office. Eighty-percent would prefer to work at least half of their hours from home once the pandemic is over. Furthermore, for the minority of employees who report reduced productivity at home, some barriers to productivity, namely an inadequate physical workspace and the need to take care of children and other family members, would likely be reduced over time as schools fully re-open and employers provide further tools to make telework more feasible.
One challenge for employers will be to accommodate the diversity of preferences for telework expressed by their employees. If workers’ preferences for telework do not fully align with those of employers, a new form of job mismatch might emerge once the pandemic is over. On the other hand, increased feasibility of telework will likely increase the pool of potential employers for job seekers, and vice-versa. In the end, job mismatch could be significantly reduced in a virtual global labour market.