It's official — nearly all of us are much more productive when we work from home

techradar ^ | 29 August 2024 | Ellen Jennings-Trace

[ShadowAce]

Working from home remains an overwhelmingly popular option for people across the world, with new research finding the vast majority (83%) saying they felt more productive in hybrid/remote settings rather than in-office or on site.

A survey from Zoom focusing on knowledge workers seemingly confirmed many companies back the trend of post-Covid remote working to continue, with 50% of leaders saying they have introduced more flexible working styles over the last two years, and 82% plan to carry this on into the future.

And despite the distance, hybrid workers even report that they are feeling more connected to their teams and managers, with 82% saying they felt a better bond - compared to 72% of in-person workers.

Tech needs a top-up

Almost all IT leaders who responded confirm they use AI in their organizations (94%), and 84% of those say that this has positively impacted productivity.

However nearly two-thirds (64%) of workers noted generative AI in particular was helping them to do their jobs, meaning a significant chunk of the workforce is still not completely sold on the technology.

However, of those surveyed, most agreed that their organization’s technology and remote work tools need improvement, with 75% feeling their current set-up is inadequate.

Zoom's findings aren’t particularly surprising, as research has consistently shown that workers are happier and more productive when given the opportunity to work remotely.

Earlier this month a report on US workplace culture revealed that workers are 60% less likely to quit, 27% more likely to enjoy their job, and 67% more likely to put in more effort if they can work from home.

More research around workspaces revealed that many workplaces need to invest in their tools and tech, with almost two-thirds of office spaces are no longer optimized for remote working.

[dagunk]

The title is misleading - “It’s official — nearly all of us are much more productive when we work from home.”

No.

Then a look at the source - “Techradar”. OK, now I see it.

They’re looking at folks who primarily sit at and use computers all day - a small subset of the workforce. They ignored the electricians, plumbers, concrete folks, brickmasons, trash pickup folks, farmers, lots of others without which a civilization cannot function.

An argument can also be made that civilization can function without computers. We did it for thousands of years.

I couldn’t work remote, even though about 10 to 25% of my work was computer work (varied). Had to get to the physical hardware to perform my duties, nevermind work closely with the system folks on occasion. Zoom just doesn’t cut it for that type of work. We tried for a bit, didn’t take long to dump it.

If I needed peace and quiet, I had a small building all to myself I could retreat to. No interruptions from the office slackers.

Yeah I had it good.

[RitchieAprile]

We have a 3 days in the office per week policy. Thursday is the new Friday.

[MayflowerMadam]

Farrah and Ryan weren’t married. Life-long soul mates, I guess, but not married.

[grey_whiskers]

Depends on the job role, don’t make an absolute statement.

Heads-down coders flourish working from home.

Less conversations, no commute time, coffee at arm’s reach...

and getting to work straight through till 11pm finishing that new feature or fixing bugs.

[CodeToad]

” Basically, if you are not self motivated, it does not work.”

True, but most office workers need to be self motivated or they are otherwise useless anyway no matter where they work.

[webheart]

Automobiles can be manufactured much more easily by sending a bunch of one kind of part to different houses and then driving the car around to have the pieces added on. McDonalds can make hamburgers much more efficiently by hiring people to make them in their kitchens and rush them to people’s houses using door dash. Even door dash can be more efficient by calling uber eats to make their deliveries for them.

[CodeToad]

This is what typical office spaces look like. They are not offices at all. They are not much more than buffet tables with people asses to elbows. No one wants to return to that petri dish of a noisy and distracting environment. People didn't go to college to work like this.

[webheart]

If you are using AI at home to do your work, you are a middle man and the middle man is the first one to be gotten rid of when the company doesn’t want to go out of business. If it does want to go out of business, the middle man goes at the same time as everyone else. Either way the middle man gets cut out.

[AZJeep]

I, personally, cannot work from home.
There are just too many disruptions.

[Fledermaus]

BS. Depends on the individual. My wife works from home. I can’t. She had to fire 2 of her staff for not performing enough at home.

[TheDon]

That sums it up pretty well.

[so_real]

I say this as a person who has worked on-call 24/7 for the last few decades ... it's possible for an employee to be more efficient when working from home, but it's mighty rare. In other news :

People who work from home say working from makes them more efficient.
People who manufacture vaccines say vaccines are safe and effective.
People who enter the country illegally say everyone should have a right to vote.
People who produce porn say porn is not addictive.
People who are afraid of guns say people don't kill people but guns do.
People who are homosexual say children of homosexual couples are well adjusted.

etc, etc, etc,

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

a short team coordination meeting

[MayflowerMadam]

Oh. Those new workplace phrases that turn verbs into nouns. A stand up. A takeaway.

So glad I’ve been retired for 16 years.

[T.B. Yoits]

People who are honest with themselves know they aren’t as productive at home.

???

The least productive place is the office, between useless conversations, drive-bys where someone swings by your desk to drop off a hot mess, and where conversations are so stilted as to avoiding offending anyone.

There is no such thing as back to the office for people who were never there. We have people from four states away who run circle around the locals. We have process that previously took weeks that can now be turned in 2-3 days.

We have meetings back to back that previously would need to be scheduled on separate days due to travel, or to avoid having different vendors run into each other during negotiations.

Those who are going back into the office log in to Microsoft Teams and have meetings all day with people who aren't in the office. That's nothing but a waste of time and effort.

[T.B. Yoits]

Just be thankful that all of our “rough men” DO stand watch in the night, rather than “phoning it in to the office”.

The equipment those rough men are using are designed and managed by people who work remotely.

The U.S. military has been doing remote work for more than a century. Industry was late to the game.

[T.B. Yoits]

Not to mention surgeries, imagine having them done at the Doctor's home?

I recently had a second opinion on tests, done all through the web forms. The doctor never left his home.

[al baby]

Biden is president he works from the beach

[T.B. Yoits]

I seen the change in people who never had a problem with coming into the office for decades...

Oh, they had a problem. You just refused to see it.

[T.B. Yoits]

Everyone knows some people who ‘gamed the system’; but in my experience, the people who do, figure out a way to do it in the office, too.

Absolutely. The first people to fall by the wayside since the Scamdemic lockdowns were the incompetent employees and especially managers, who filled their calendar to get work done by community effort, as a way of hiding their incompetence. Once they didn't have rooms of "teams" to "synergize", it became so obvious they were the weak link.

We had a period of about 8 months were problem after problem surfaced that had been masked by incompetent directors and managers for years. The capable staff benefited immensely after being unburdened from the dead wood bosses and productivity skyrocketed.