Since the pandemic’s start, congregational contagion has been thought to be the fastest way for the virus to spread. Therefore, in order to avoid gatherings of people to prevent the spread of the virus, employees of major companies have voluntarily been asked to leave their original workplaces and return to their homes for telecommuting. This is what came to be known as the “work-from-home policy.”
The work-from-home policy is considered to be the biggest revolution in the way of working in human history. Since the Stone Age, people’s daily work has been done in clusters. Human beings are a kind of group of animals, and individuals cannot live alone without the group. The logic is simple and easy to understand. Teamwork requires communication, and communication requires the use of the mouth to make sounds, and the range of sound transmission is limited, so people need to gather in a specific space to ensure the effective dissemination of information.
But when entering the digital age, everything changed. In fact, before the Internet, the invention of the telephone changed the way people communicate traditionally. Now, the emergence of the Internet allows people to see real-time images while the sound is transmitted, significantly reducing the necessity of meeting in person. All of these provide a viable basis for work-from-home policies. It must be admitted that after the introduction of the work-from-home policy, the rate of virus transmission has indeed shown a downward trend.
However, if the policy is the best compromise in the pandemic era, people will stick with it. Things turned around in mid-November when Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, told employees via email that remote work would no longer be allowed unless he personally approved it. And employees must work at least 40 hours a week in Twitter’s offices.
Elon Musk has made it clear that he wants Twitter and Tesla employees back in the office. “Remote work is no longer allowed unless you have a specific exception. Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval.”
In addition to Twitter, many companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Foxconn have successively canceled their work-at-home policies. What caused the policy that was so optimistic at the beginning to be resisted now? Even when companies face the need to abandon lower operating costs, higher satisfaction, and less pressure on human resources, do they still force employees to return to the office?
The gradual deviation of employee performance from expectations is an essential factor. According to research data published by Apollo Technical states that the more hours an individual works from home, the less productive they become. Those who work full time (8 hours/day) at home are 70% less productive than those who don’t work from home; only 11% of employees feel that working remotely is more effective and engaging than working in the office.
Working from home can easily lead to a false sense of productivity. It is natural for employers and employees to assume that a more comfortable setting and familiar atmosphere at home will help employees feel more at ease. Reducing interaction with co-workers can reduce employee stress. Because there is no need to go to the company, employees spend less time commuting daily and have more working hours. There are indications that, in theory, employees should be more productive. Thus, the productivity illusion arises.
Many generally considered positive theoretical evidence are actually developing in the opposite direction of people’s cognition. According to YouGov research, half of the employees don’t think their work from home is any better. A more casual environment can lead to poor concentration. More time does not mean more work, lack of effective supervision, etc., are all reasons why employees are less productive.
Work-from-home policies also affect different roles and types of work differently. The idiosyncrasies of this policy do not apply to every situation. For example, according to YouGov research data, the industries that least encourage flexible working include hospitality and leisure (55%) and finance and accounting (34%).
For the characteristics of different positions, such as CEO, high-intensity and complex work makes this position more flexible, and the policy of working from home will be suitable. However, for junior employees, their daily pace may already be plodding, and the policy of working from home makes their work pace even slower, and distractions will appear. For the production and service industries, employees leaving their jobs will lead to a decline in the overall operating efficiency of the enterprise; for the Internet industry, the difference between working from home or working in a company building is only a difference in location. Therefore, enterprises should choose the appropriate policy according to the characteristics of the employees’ position and job content.
References
Cover Image https://www.jotform.com/work-from-home-guide/
Apollo Technical https://www.apollotechnical.com/working-from-home-productivity-statistics/#:~:text=Those%20who%20worked%20full%20time,don't%20work%20from%20home.
YouGov https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/articles-reports/2019/01/14/working-home-more-or-less-productive
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erEYWeMf9ec
