Business

Are remote workers lazy? Experts weigh in on Elon Musk and Marc Benioff’s productivity


Everyone knows that Elon Musk is not a fan of working remotely. The billionaire made his first business imperative to end Twitter’s “work from anywhere” policy when he took the helm.

He also took a similar approach at space and Tesla where he wants employees to work in the office at least 40 hours a week. Why? Because he thinks his employees are more productive in the office, or rather lazier when working from home.

“All the stay-at-home stuff of Covid has fooled people into thinking you don’t really need to work hard,” he wrote on Twitterlast year.

His views are bold but not uncommon.

Salesforce’s co-founder and CEO, Marc Benioff, recently complained in a company-wide Slack memo that new employees hired remotely have productivity issues. He added: “Aren’t we building tribal knowledge with new employees without a workplace culture?”

While, Disney Starbucks CEO Bob Iger and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz both greeted their employees after the Christmas break by blaring the klaxon back to work.

Are remote workers really lazy?

It’s likely that the lack of morning commute and cooler moments, such as walking to a coworker’s desk or rushing out to grab a sandwich, could make teleworkers less likely to work. be more physically active.

But it’s not the “lazy” type that CEOs care about.

Unfortunately, research doesn’t show a one-size-fits-all answer, and neither do workers and their bosses on this issue.

Although research from Microsoft found the majority of workers believed they were like effective when they work from home, only 12% of managers fully believe that their remote team members are productive. Meanwhile, Glassdoor found that 1 in 2 full-time telecommuters said they were more productive precisely because of their work arrangements.

The difference could be due to, as reported in Fortuneworkers add their commute to their mental calculation of how productive they are, while managers don’t.

However, studies have consistently shown that some form of remote work is good for productivity, which is why many companies are opting for a hybrid solution.

“Someone’s location does not automatically correlate with their work ethic,” says Cheryl Naumann, Director of Human Resources at the University of Phoenix.

Before the pandemic and “remote working”, there were always people looking for any excuse not to work – the lazy person who drank a lot of coffee lazily and hung around at tables that were not his. At least one person wasting time remotely is not simultaneously wasting the time of others in the process.

But the bottom line is, whether at the office or at home, there will always be “lazy” employees.

How to make your team more effective

As Benioff noted, “new team members are often less productive,” recalls Jill Cotton, career consultant at Glassdoor.

“Therefore, an effective onboarding process is critical to helping employees get through the first six months and beyond at a company,” she adds.

She also said that the “exchange of knowledge” that often takes place in the office should be considered for those who work remotely. This is especially important for new hires fresh out of college or changing majors, who may not know what best practice really is.

“Productivity depends on feedback, mentorship, and strong personal relationships between team members,” Cotton said, adding that “companies need to implement structures that allow employees to remote access to each of these so that they perform at their best.”

Naumann agrees that “maintaining regular contact with team members as a remote employee manager is even more important.”

Regardless of whether employees are working remotely or in the office, the same basic principle applies: To be successful in their roles, employees need to achieve the goals set forth by their managers. .

Therefore, managers must ensure workers meet their productivity expectations.

“Managers, including those of remote workers, still have to train, guide, motivate, manage and measure work. Set clear expectations for remote workers in terms of sign-in and log-out times, flexible scheduling, and daily delivery results to make remote working relationships successful,” adds Naumann.

But managers must not fall into the trap of drawing productivity with a brush that is too wide.

James Berry, director of UCL’s MBA.

An employee who goes to the office, for example, may not earn the same amount as an employee who bows at home. Likewise, someone in the office who has knocked out colleagues, may come to meetings with more ideas than those working remotely.

“To address this, it is the task of leadership teams to create results-based goals for employees and keep them on track to those results-based outcomes, as opposed to the general idea of ​​productivity. ,” Berry adds.

Only by getting to know the individuals behind the screens in your remote team can you adopt the right approach to measuring their productivity, rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. will surely fail.

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