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Work from Home and Productivity

bfi.uchicago.edu

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41–50 of 139 posts

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#41

Post by jrcii2 »

dml2135 wrote: post #20

I'd question how conclusions are being drawn here. I think the key takeaway is that output did not change. The authors then go on to say that since hours worked increased, productivity decreased. But how do we define what an "hour worked" really means? I know that I definitely spend more time "working" during WFH in the sense that I am either being responsive to colleagues or actively working on my own work. However…

That's an interesting twist. I like the positive aspect of it given I've mostly felt guilty for being able to flexibly take on more household tasks while taking breaks from work.

I do think things would trend even more positively had this not been a pandemic. Folks would have more flexibility in work location and could "pick their spots" better in the sense that they'd have more control over their environment and could tailor it to specific tasks.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#42

Post by tobr »

What raises my eyebrows here is that the output is 100.00% in both periods, for both the 1st and 3rd quartile. This seems extremely artificial. Basically, when 1 task is assigned, 1.0000 tasks will be completed. I’ve only skimmed but didn’t see any discussion of how the tasks are assigned - is there any variation on that end?

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#43

Post by jrcii2 »

rkk3 wrote: post #18

"Employees with children living at home ... suffered a bigger decline in productivity than those without children" Surprising No One.

I'd be curious to hear about the effects of pets, especially since so many people added them at some point during the pandemic so you could get some interesting before and after stats.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#44

Post by tdeck »

> The jobs involve significant cognitive work, developing new software or hardware applications or solutions, collaborating with teams of professionals, working with clients, and engaging in innovation and continuous improvement.

> The company provided rich data for a large sample of more than 10,000 employees, for 17 months before and during WFH, from its personnel records and workforce analytics systems. It has a highly-developed process for setting goals and tracking progress towards them, culminating in a primary output measure for each employee.

I am skeptical. Why? I've never seen a half-decent way of quantifying output in all my time on the job at 7 companies. Sure, this company complies enough numbers so that clients and upper management feel the performance is quantified, but that's not the same thing. At a minimum this productivity metric needs to be interrogated more closely.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#45

Post by tdeck »

ineptech wrote: post #25
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #14

COVID does not constitute a natural experiment! A useful natural experiment is when something changes in a way that can only (or at least almost entirely) affect your outcome by way of the cause you're interested in. In the cause and effect chain of A -> B -> C, if A affects B, but not C, then you can exploit wild things in A to learn about how B affects C. But if A affects C outside of B, you can't tell the effects…

Agreed! The elephants in the room for me are the self-reported hours (Did "hours worked" really increase, or was that time spent changing laundry and running errands that got classified as work time) and the obvious confounder of children being at home rather than in school.

Keep in mind also that this is a consulting company, where people are always encouraged to report more hours in order to bill the client.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#46

Post by QuercusMax »

Huiokko wrote: post #38
Havoc wrote: post #37

A big surprise to me was the impact on having "real talk" discussions with my boss. I joined during covid and obviously working at home I was used to everything being truly 1:1 just between us. (I'm blessed with a great boss) The few back at office days rattled me a bit in terms of "who is listening/judging" in open plan. I've spent years in open plan so that aspect isn't new...but somehow the covid contrast rattled…

I'm not sure what you mean. I book 1:1 with my manager and it was always in a meeting room. Is it common for you to have 1:1 in your cubicle?

Pre-covid, I only ever had manager 1:1s in a meeting room, or much more commonly, walking around the campus. Very occasionally a 1:1 in a deserted corner of a cafeteria during non-meal hours.

A manager 1:1 in a nonprivate space sounds awful.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#47

Post by avgDev »

themanmaran wrote: post #8
stakkur wrote: post #5

They used tracking software on employee's computers. That alone was enough for me to close the link without reading further. My company uses Microsoft's inane version of this, and the only real thing it measures is the amount of money going into Microsoft's account.

"the analytics software takes into account whether an employee actually engages in a relevant task (which counts as work time) or merely procrastinates at their desk (not counted), by monitoring which software tools the employee uses" That's genuinely awful. I wonder to what extent employees are aware of the analytics, and how many people just set up macros look busy.

These tools are definitely awful. Last week I spent hours reading a programming book because I was unsure about certain part of my code and needed a refresher.

Also, a lot times I just need to think without typing anything. There are days where I only type few lines of code but getting the knowledge to write it takes hours of looking at the business and making sure there is no ill effects somewhere.

I still deliver and my boss doesn't need to hold my hand.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#48

Post by addicted »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #14

COVID does not constitute a natural experiment! A useful natural experiment is when something changes in a way that can only (or at least almost entirely) affect your outcome by way of the cause you're interested in. In the cause and effect chain of A -> B -> C, if A affects B, but not C, then you can exploit wild things in A to learn about how B affects C. But if A affects C outside of B, you can't tell the effects…

That’s not what is meant by a natural experiment.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_experiment

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#49

Post by not2b »

So, about the same amount of work got done, but it took more hours of working to get it done. Seems about right; efficiency per hour went down but the company got about the same amount of work from the employees. The per-hour productivity loss would be less if commute time were to be factored in: I'm putting in more hours of work, but my commute was more than an hour a day.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#50

Post by taylodl »

dml2135 wrote: post #20

I'd question how conclusions are being drawn here. I think the key takeaway is that output did not change. The authors then go on to say that since hours worked increased, productivity decreased. But how do we define what an "hour worked" really means? I know that I definitely spend more time "working" during WFH in the sense that I am either being responsive to colleagues or actively working on my own work. However…

I'm with you. I mix personal tasks and work tasks throughout the day. My work output is the same or better, but the stuff I'm getting done around the house - SKYROCKET! My quality of life has improved dramatically.
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