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Working from home is still a relatively new concept for many employers, so we don’t have many comprehensive scientific studies to state, definitively, whether working from home makes employees more productive. One of the most interesting motivations for allowing employees to work from home is the perceived notion that working from home increases productivity. One advantage of working from home is that you have access to all the stress-relief tools you would after a long day at the office.
So, as tempting as it is to take one-hour breaks at home just because you can, those breaks can get you into resting mode and tend to stretch into a very unproductive day. Give yourself a reasonably hefty, but manageable to-do list and keep yourself in that effective worker-bee mode. One of the things that keep us productive in an office setting is accountability. Your colleagues check in to see how your part of a project is going, and your boss is right across the hall watching to make sure you're not on your phone all day. If you don't want to be a slacker at home, make an effort to contact the office every day. The idea that multitasking is effective is still pervasive in the working world.
A desk clock
Alex, the Chief Executive Officer of a 900-employee SaaS company, wanted to figure out his future work arrangements. He feared that if his team didn’t return to the office full time, he would lose out to rivals who could do so and gain productivity benefits by working from the office. One of the downsides of working from home is that it can be challenging for employees to connect with their co-workers. Research from Microsoft found that long-term remote work can adversely affect employees’ relationships with their colleagues. Microsoft found that remote employees have reported missing the informal conversations that occur in the lunchroom and office hallways. Additionally, sickness spreads quickly among co-workers sharing the same office space.
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 online timer and work for the next 30 minutes uninterrupted. Asurveyfrom 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.
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They don’t have to wear a suit, but getting them out of their pyjamas should work. It is important to routinely connect with your remote employees, just as you would engage the employees who work in your office. Even if the remote worker is a freelancer, getting to know them better will help you assess them better, while also building a stronger work bond.
It might be tempting to work from your couch, easy-chair, or even from your bed, but this could take a huge toll on your productivity. Try to always work from a consistent room, desk, or chair to tell your brain that it’s time for work, not relaxation. With her public health and statistics expertise, Chandni uses data to highlight social injustices across organizations and corrective measures to help workplaces become For All™.
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The study by Stanford University and Ctrip reveals that home workers had a lower promotion rate. This may be due to less face time with managers and fewer opportunities for on-the-job training with more experienced coworkers and superiors. Supervisors apparently didn’t notice the remote workers’ performance as much as on-site workers. A study published by the Psychological Science in the Public Interest journal reviewed the findings of research focused on telecommuting. Many of these studies reveal the potential adverse effects of remote work. According to research mentioned in the journal, for instance, higher levels of telecommuting don’t necessarily result in higher job satisfaction.
Aim for something angled so you can adjust where you shine your light. And while you’re setting up that workspace, there are some things you might want to consider getting. Some of us are quarantining alone, and all that isolation is stressful. Since March, many of us have had to give up our desks at the office and stay home.
Randomly timed and endlessly pinging notifications can also cause stress, even if you ignore them and try to focus on the task at hand. Turn off all notifications to save your sanity and get more work done. If there are communications, you need to stay on top of, schedule specific times each day when you can batch process them. Study also found that employees who exercise during their break are more productive, collaborate better with others, and effectively manage their time and tasks.
While the Nitro report suggests that remote employees have more control over their workdays than in-office employees, distractions can still arise at home. Time management for employees working from home is even more important than in an office. And I believe proper time tracking tools can help them remain responsible and productive. By the way, my colleagues have developed a similartime-tracking mobile app for one of our customers, which facilitates logging time spent on work tasks. A study published in Monitor on Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association, explores the future of remote work and its implications on employee performance and job satisfaction.
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Project and task management tools are also an important part of supporting employee accountability as they help create full visibility into working activities. For example, Office 365 tools like Project Online and Planner can help managers see employees’ task statuses, progress and overall performance in real time. As for remote employees, they can keep track of all their projects and tasks with such tools and get reminders of approaching deadlines, which drives them to stay focused on tasks and complete them in time.
The Pomodoro method is great for this as it sets regular work hours and breaks. Knock out essential tasks when your energy is high and take care of less important tasks when you are less motivated. For instance, if you feel at your best in the morning, use that time to brainstorm and attend to crucial tasks. You are likely to feel more alert, more confident, and more organized if you work from a home office. Set yourself up with a comfy, supportive chair, a spacious desk, good Wi-Fi, and consistent workplace tools.
Owl Labs reports that 79% of workers list better focus as one of the top benefits of working from home. Focused employees are more productive, making flexible work a win-win situation for you and your team. Upon gathering data on the preferred working styles of employees, the consultant discovered that employees expressed a strong desire to work from home. A two-year study published in February 2021 of 3 million employees at 715 U.S. companies, including many from the Fortune 500 list, showed that working from home improved employee productivity by an average of 6 percent. Research shows that hybrid and even fully remote teams can gain a substantial productivity advantage if their leaders stop relying on traditional office-based culture and methods of collaboration.
I found that when I had to get more organized at work, I applied the same methods to my personal life, too. For some, the noise and bustle of a public place simulates the work environment, making them more productive. A big plus of working from home but, from outside the house, is that it removes daily distractions such as laundry, or even the TV. Employees aren’t available just because they’re working from home, and should lay out some ground rules about work time engagements.
An experiment that allowed for random selection would likely be more telling. “The work-from-home experience seems to be more positive than what people believed, but we still don’t have great data,” Fishbach says. Companies that offer more flexibility in work arrangements may have the best chance of attracting top talent at the best price.
