As a result of the pandemic, many companies had to adopt the home office to keep going. Some have fully implemented it and there are those that offer a hybrid scheme, combining face-to-face days with remote work. However, others require employees to return to the office, as many bosses do not trust the productivity of employees who telecommute, although the data shows otherwise.
A study of microsoft revealed that although people are “working more than ever” remotely, bosses or employers still question whether they are being productive.
To reach these conclusions, the technology giant surveyed 20,000 people in 11 countries. He also analyzed the productivity data of Microsoft 365 and the work culture platform Glint People Scienceas well as the trends of LinkedIn.
The 87% of employees reported that they are more productive working from homewhich could be true based on the results of the analysis.
The report notes that home office productivity could be “higher” than before, as the average home office user Microsoft Teams attend a “153% more meetings now than at the beginning of the pandemic.” They also found that many workers schedule two or more meetings at once, multitask, and have reduced the time they spend on personal and social lives.
In contrast, the 85% of bosses said remote work “makes it hard to trust” workers’ productivity. Many leaders confessed to being concerned about losing sight of how their collaborators are performing because they are not in the same space. Only 12% of employers reported having complete confidence that their team was productive.
The perception of the home office damages the workflow
The report explains that the pressure on employees, added to the distrust of their bosses, create a phenomenon they call “Productivity Paranoia”.
“As some organizations use technology to track activity rather than impact, employees lack context about how and why they are being monitored, which can undermine trust and lead to ‘productivity theater,'” Microsoft notes.
“This has led to productivity paranoia. Bosses fear that lost productivity is due to employees not working, even though hours worked, number of meetings and other activity metrics have increased.
At the same time, the suspicions and attitudes of the bosses cause the collaborators to feel that they need to work more to meet expectations. This can lead to burnout or developing ‘Imposter Syndrome’ if they don’t focus on taking care of the team’s mental health.
In this regard, 81% of employees mentioned that bosses should give them more effective feedback and help them prioritize their workloads. However, only 31% said they had received any kind of clear guidance during individual meetings.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.