Remote Workers Say They're Productive at Home. Bosses Don't Agree
upstart writes:
Are workers really as productive at home or are they just performing 'productivity theater'?:
A new survey by Microsoft has found that 87% of workers feel they're just as efficient at home as in the office, but the vast majority of bosses disagree.
Some 85% of business leaders suspect their workers are shirking at home while only 12% of them have "full confidence" their employees are being productive, according to the results of Microsoft's survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries.
[...] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told BBC this week: "We have to get past what we describe as 'productivity paranoia', because all of the data we have that shows that 80% plus of the individual people feel they're very productive - except their management thinks that they're not productive. That means there is a real disconnect in terms of the expectations and what they feel."
Microsoft depicts productivity paranoia as a vicious circle. Businesses using employee-tracking technology undermine employee trust, which in turn can lead to "productivity theater", where workers knowingly join pointless video meetings and respond to emails at times that look good.
A study by GitLab found remote workers on average spend 67 minutes on feigning productivity each day.
[...] Microsoft's take on productivity paranoia is "where leaders fear that lost productivity is due to employees not working, even though hours worked, number of meetings, and other activity metrics have increased."
[...] A recent survey by hiring platform Hired found 57.1% of tech employees are planning on looking for a new job in the next six months. Even more would leave if a pay rise was knocked back. This year, 61.7% of tech workers were employed in 'remote-first' firms. Over half the respondents said they'd immediately start looking for new work if their employer demanded a return to the office.
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