Report: Work-from-home productivity is nuanced
- As pandemic receded, many managers required return to office
- One report found no significant impact on productivity working from home
- Another found proximity enhanced mentorship but decreased short-term productivity
Sarah Motiff, from politically competitive Columbia, County, Wisconsin, works from home in Columbus, Wis., on Sept. 13, 2022. The 52-year-old city council woman and political independent says testimony that Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s office offered a fake slate of Wisconsin electors for the 2020 election “put a bad taste in my mouth.” She is among independent voters nationally who have drifted toward supporting Democrats this fall. (AP Photo/Thomas Beaumont)
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(NewsNation) — Four years into the work-from-home experiment, two papers are now shedding light on whether or not those who work remotely are more productive, Axios reported.
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s report, which examined 43 private-sector industries found no significant impact in productivity.
A second report, a collaborative effort by economists from the New York Fed, University of Virginia, and Harvard, delved into the operations of an undisclosed Fortune 500 company. The study focused on software engineers, comparing teams working closely together in a physical space with those dispersed across various locations, reflecting a remote work environment.
The findings revealed that proximity enhanced mentorship but potentially decreased short-term productivity. Pre-pandemic, closely situated teams received more feedback on their code, fostering mentorship among colleagues.
However, engineers in closer proximity wrote fewer software programs than their dispersed counterparts.
With the shift to remote work in 2020, the mentorship gap vanished. The close-together team experienced higher quit rates during the pandemic, likely due to increased opportunities stemming from enhanced training.
In the absence of physical proximity, the company adapted by hiring more skilled workers, hinting at a long-term business adjustment to remote work practices. This adaptation may explain why the first paper found no significant change in overall productivity rates during the remote work period, Axios reported.
Return-to-office mandates not only lower employee satisfaction but also don’t significantly boost profits, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh.
Working from home became a more common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, which required people to self-isolate and remain at home when possible. As pandemic restrictions eased, some employers urged workers to return to the office.
NewsNation’s Katie Smith contributed to this report.