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Work from Home and Productivity

bfi.uchicago.edu

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Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#71

Post by missedthecue »

It never seemed surprising to me to think that the disaster that has been high school and college from home might also be a problem for working from home. After all, one major difference between working from home and learning from home is that working relies on human interaction much more heavily than studying.

But no one seems to even bother disputing that college-from-home is an inefficient way to learn compared to in-person. It is practically a universally accepted fact. Meanwhile, the entire internet seems to rush to find flaws, no matter how minute, in any study that casts the faintest negative light on working-from-home.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#72

Post by kurttheviking »

pjungwir wrote: post #70
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 seems like a good point. I've worked from home for 15 years, and my productivity (and billable hours) took a big hit last spring, just from the distraction of trying to learn what I could and be prepared. Subjectively I'd say my focus suffered as well. I imagine businesses have lost productivity in all kinds of ways the last ~15 months.

I need to read the article but your comment speaks to exactly the analysis I'd like to see: what was the productivity change among those with a stable WFH situation prior to COVID vs. during COVID, and how does that correlate with family status.

Personally, the biggest change for me in COVID WFH was not the remote meetings -- I already had plenty of those -- but it was the introduction of a second job: part-time Kindergarten teacher.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#73

Post by denimnerd42 »

missedthecue wrote: post #71

It never seemed surprising to me to think that the disaster that has been high school and college from home might also be a problem for working from home. After all, one major difference between working from home and learning from home is that working relies on human interaction much more heavily than studying. But no one seems to even bother disputing that college-from-home is an inefficient way to learn compared to…

i learned my entire curriculum from youtube 2014-2018 so i dispute that remote college is inefficient. however i would not dispute that universities would have any motivation to make the remote learning process work well for fear of future consequences.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#74

Post by discardable_dan »

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…

Honestly, I think the study sort of damns itself with this line:

> Time spent on coordination activities and meetings increased, but uninterrupted work hours shrank considerably.

You can easily translate this as:

> Without workers in the office, middle management was left to spend additional time on pointless meetings, inhibiting their workers from spending their time on work tasks.

If that is true, let's consider the facts:

1. Workers worked longer hours. 2. Workers spent more time in meetings than before. 3. Workers achieved roughly the same output.

Now, if we stare at these three things really hard, I think the conclusion is that additional meetings do not play the supplemental role that many managers seem to believe it does, and in fact minimizing meetings will increase productivity.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#75

Post by missedthecue »

denimnerd42 wrote: post #73
missedthecue wrote: post #71

It never seemed surprising to me to think that the disaster that has been high school and college from home might also be a problem for working from home. After all, one major difference between working from home and learning from home is that working relies on human interaction much more heavily than studying. But no one seems to even bother disputing that college-from-home is an inefficient way to learn compared to…

i learned my entire curriculum from youtube 2014-2018 so i dispute that remote college is inefficient. however i would not dispute that universities would have any motivation to make the remote learning process work well for fear of future consequences.

Perhaps 'inefficient' was a poor choice of terms on my part. What I mean to say is that getting your education at an institution yields superior results compared to watching youtube videos.

When learning in-person, cheating is less easily facilitated, student engagement is more naturally promoted, discussion and interaction is inherently encouraged, distractions are much fewer, and the general atmosphere is fully conducive to the retainment of information and study material.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#76

Post by denimnerd42 »

missedthecue wrote: post #75
denimnerd42 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i learned my entire curriculum from youtube 2014-2018 so i dispute that remote college is inefficient. however i would not dispute that universities would have any motivation to make the remote learning process work well for fear of future consequences.

Perhaps 'inefficient' was a poor choice of terms on my part. What I mean to say is that getting your education at an institution yields superior results compared to watching youtube videos. When learning in-person, cheating is less easily facilitated, student engagement is more naturally promoted, discussion and interaction is inherently encouraged, distractions are much fewer, and the general atmosphere is fully con…

actually i highly dispute that. as good youtube videos have highly skilled tutors or highly skilled professors conveying the content. not random adjuncts, graduate students, assistant professors, and sometimes the occasional skilled lecturer. if i didn’t watch youtube vidoes i would have never have passed. my experience in class was abysmal and going to class to figure out the exam content and then watching videos afterwards resulted in way better grades.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#77

Post by missedthecue »

denimnerd42 wrote: post #76
missedthecue wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps 'inefficient' was a poor choice of terms on my part. What I mean to say is that getting your education at an institution yields superior results compared to watching youtube videos. When learning in-person, cheating is less easily facilitated, student engagement is more naturally promoted, discussion and interaction is inherently encouraged, distractions are much fewer, and the general atmosphere is fully con…

actually i highly dispute that. as good youtube videos have highly skilled tutors or highly skilled professors conveying the content. not random adjuncts, graduate students, assistant professors, and sometimes the occasional skilled lecturer. if i didn’t watch youtube vidoes i would have never have passed. my experience in class was abysmal and going to class to figure out the exam content and then watching videos af…

Youtube videos can be watched whether or not you attend a class with professional faculty and a group of like-minded colleagues in-person. It's not as if attending an institution precludes you from consuming other material. Students have been doing that for years.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#78

Post by denimnerd42 »

missedthecue wrote: post #77
denimnerd42 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

actually i highly dispute that. as good youtube videos have highly skilled tutors or highly skilled professors conveying the content. not random adjuncts, graduate students, assistant professors, and sometimes the occasional skilled lecturer. if i didn’t watch youtube vidoes i would have never have passed. my experience in class was abysmal and going to class to figure out the exam content and then watching videos af…

Youtube videos can be watched whether or not you attend a class with professional faculty and a group of like-minded colleagues in-person. It's not as if attending an institution precludes you from consuming other material. Students have been doing that for years.

True. but that’s similar to the common practice of going to meetings at work and then doing the actual hard concentration work at home after hours. I don’t want to work 12 hours a day. I want to get my work done and be done. I’m looking for efficiency. Not a social club.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#79

Post by tqi »

xhrpost wrote: post #62

A lot of comments here saying that this is a flawed study because we don't know how the pandemic may have impacted a statistical decline in productivity. I must ask, why is this not a concern when someone anecdotally or statistically shows an increase in productivity from Covid WFH? The response is instead something like "we've known it all along! WFH is better!".

Confirmation bias.

Honestly, IMO most of economics "research" is just a random assortment of bullshit viewed through a lens of confirmation bias. Results don't match your priors? Make adjustments to your model assumptions until it does. Disagree with a result? Point out at all the ways in which those assumptions are imperfect. Results match your priors? LGTM.

Re: Work from Home and Productivity

#80

Post by pojzon »

Ofcourse my productivity dived.. I have to spend 3h per day on meetings to align with ppl on various thing because ppl force me to have f2f meetings over zoom. Things that could have been an email.

On top of that are kids and wife who drive me crazy and constantly interrupt when you have to focus.

This is not a correct way to measure WFH, during normal WFH situation my kids would be in school and my wife at work..

And coworkers wouldnt be so desperate for interactions with others.

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