[Misc] Does WFH (working from home) reduce productivity?

[father_and_son]

I manage a team, am remote myself and all my team are too. Personally I get maybe 2-3 times as much done wfh than I'd get done commuting to London and appreciate that this is noticed, acknowledged and I get the latitude from my bosses as a result. If I need to slack off a bit to recover from a tough few days, I can. Likewise, if something is keeping me from relaxing I can just go sort it.

Out of a team of 7, I have 2 really high flyers, one of which I couldn't have recruited for in-office or hybrid working because she lives near Belfast. At the other end of the scale I have one who works as a DJ and so I never see him active until way after everyone else but he still produces so I don't mind. The last is a problem but it's noted and he's on an improvement program that reflects his capability and his timekeeping so, one way or another, it will be sorted.

I wouldn't take a job that required me to be back in London more than my current once/twice a month. I'd hate it.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Hybrid is surely the best option for those who can accommodate it. A few days in the office, a few at home. Get a nice mix of socialising with work mates, but also get those days with a bit more personal freedom. Haven't personally found it to diminish productivity, but might be because even working form home the companies I've worked at have still been pretty on your case.

Completely understand it in this job market if you're not a massive business. You simply can't compete in attracting the top talent unless you offer these perks and benefits - you'll never be able to pay what big companies can offer. Would you take a pay cut to work for a smaller company if it meant you worked 4 days a week and could work from home? I think many would.

I would. Primarily because I could make up the shortfall elsewhere, which would potentially give me more freedom long term.

The reality is, working from an office requires 10 hours+ a week extra, which is unpaid. That’s a whole extra week of work every month. Plus the costs of commuting in petrol, higher insurance, more risk.

And it’s much harder to get anything else done, let alone have personal time.

I honestly don’t see how companies like the one I work for can continue pulling people into an office just so they can control them, when the benefits of remote working are so high

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I would. Primarily because I could make up the shortfall elsewhere, which would potentially give me more freedom long term.

The reality is, working from an office requires 10 hours+ a week extra, which is unpaid. That’s a whole extra week of work every month. Plus the costs of commuting in petrol, higher insurance, more risk.

And it’s much harder to get anything else done, let alone have personal time.

I honestly don’t see how companies like the one I work for can continue pulling people into an office just so they can control them, when the benefits of remote working are so high

My commute to London, with the wonder that is SouthEastern, can be 2h. That's 4h a day. 20 h a week.



I only go in these days if I have contact teaching.

And I actually raised some competitive research funding a couple of years ago. Me? At my age?

I can be done....

 

[Cheshire Cat]

If anything WFH has increased my productivity because I don't waste any time with all the innane office gossip, meetings that produce nothing, or tedious politicking.

Also it means I don't spend 3 hours a day in traffic, spending on petrol, bridge tolls or parking.

It's a bit quiet round here though.......

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Office is so much more productive. Got 4 games of table tennis in today and I get none in at home.

 

[jcdenton08]

For a boring answer to the original question, it depends.

Lots of people take the piss with “working” from home. Lots of people are more productive working alone without distractions and take the piss at work.

It depends on so many factors, such as the nature of the work, the employee’s personality, the workplace environment, the home environment.

There are some who do better in a workplace environment, and some who do better in their own.

This concludes the most boring and obvious post in NSC history since banoffee pie was suggested to be served in pastry rather than biscuit base.(it shouldn’t be).

 

[seaford]

I spoke to someone I know who works in the corporate world as a people manager, and their response was - it depends.
What it boiled down to, in their experience, was that someone who was a "low" performer in the office would be worse when WFH, whereas a "high" performer would continue this behaviour. The people in the middle, depending on their organisational skills, could go either way, and it required the people manager to support the middle group to maximise performance.

Personally when I was a corporate drone, I preferred 2 days in the office and 3 days WFH.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

I've managed to get so much done wfh

 

[BN9 BHA]

I've managed to get so much done wfh

I don’t know about you, I get so much more done when the home owner isn’t lurking around and getting in the way.