The Work After Lockdown research project studied why some home workers are more productive than others and how firms respond.
The result of remote working is causing some businesses to re-evaluate their assumption that they get the highest output when staff work longer hours or under close supervision.
Many major firms - professional services group PwC for instance - have been sufficiently impressed by remote working to make it a permanent option for their staff. For some employees working from home is an opportunity to focus and to be super productive, whilst also giving them the opportunity to take the dog for a walk or to remain in their pyjamas all day.
However, some workers find concentration difficult and spend eight hours doing nothing more than answering a couple of emails and daydreaming. David Solomon, CEO Goldman Sachs, has rejected remote working as an “aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible”.
The results of the survey - in which 1,085 respondents working from home in the UK were asked about their productivity - have recently been published.
The respondents were asked whether they felt that their productivity was the same, better or worse compared to pre-lockdown and 54 per cent thought they got a little more, or much more done per hour worked, than before lockdown. When this was combined with the result of those who reported productivity as being the same as before lockdown, it showed that 90 per cent of employees had maintained or improved their productivity - leaving only 10 per cent reporting that their productivity had gone down.
When questioned about their mental health, the respondents were scored using the World Health Organisation index, which showed that better mental health was associated with higher productivity. The mental health scores for the most productive workers were twice those of the least productive but it was not clear whether poor mental health score contributes to the decline in productivity, or the high productivity boosts the mental health.
Over 90 per cent of the respondents reported that they could concentrate on one activity for a long time; 94 per cent were able to use the autonomy given them by their employer to re-order work tasks; 85 per cent did not get distracted from the task in hand and 83 per cent could return to their task after an interruption. Those who could self-regulate in these ways were positively correlated with high productivity per hour worked.
Seventy-three per cent of the survey respondents reported that their ideal working pattern would allow them to vary their place of work to reflect the tasks they were performing.
Matthew Davis - Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School - said that highly social, extroverted people may have a more difficult time working from home without the “water-cooler chat”. He added that those who rely on their social environment to enjoy their jobs, stave off monotony and keep up motivation may find themselves disadvantaged.
He went on to say that - even though they may thrive working alone - introverts do not necessarily find home working better, as they can find video calls difficult due to discomfort with being the sole focus of a camera and having to speak in group chats. He says that a balance of introversion and extroversion qualities may be a best for productivity.
