To think that everyone WFH thinks they are more productive but this view isn’t necessarily shared

I think it’s naive to believe that companies want people back just based on performance though.

I agree that productivity is only one of many factors to consider. There's a noticeable, rapid increase in the number of employers expecting a return to the office at the moment which is interesting.

I know I’m more productive. I’ve wfh for 15 years. I’ve had promotions and excellent reviews.

the key for me is that I am
an autistic introvert and my job requires intense mental focus. Being in the office, even with a private office, which I always had, was very stressful. At home I don’t have that fight or flight mechanism kicking in all the time. I can just sit in my home office and hyper-focus on my work.

We lost out on shared ideas, helping our colleagues, training new staff etc when had to WFH
some people were very efficient at managing their own work loads others not do much
some tasks just took longer from home unless you were lucky enough to have easy access to copier, scanner, post office etc
Time was wasted on liaising with each other via email or phone when we just normally walk over and ask things
Hybrid is an option for some depending on role, others prefer the full time office experience
I feel we are nearly back to pre Covid levels of productivity with my team

There are benefits to the inconsequential chats that happen in a workplace for the both the employer and employee. It’s worth seeing the value in these small interactions, especially for young and new staff.

YABU.

My work requires concentration, focus & attention to detail. I’m much more productive at home because there are far fewer distractions than in the office and far less expectation to attend pointless, time-wasting meetings.

Depends on the type of work and training new people is one activity that face to face really helps

Most of the academic studies suggest WFH is as productive or more so than the office

But no one likes facts over feels or management incompetence

Dh is more productive at home but acknowledges it has certain repercussions not being in the office

I am more productive at home but I am in the office 1 day in 3 and our employer is happy with less work but more team building

You are so right.

Sadly there are lots of poor managers out there who don't get it.

I think some people are more productive, but this comes at the cost of the more hard to measure benefits of working as a team and informal discussions.

There are also some people in every organisation who completely take the piss when working from home and their conduct has cost all the hard working employees as employers have lost trust. Very selfish behaviour.

I agree with PP. Often individuals are more productive but it is the team working, teaching of new employees, learning about things in the business not directly in your area etc that are suffering.

I think its easier after a while to let the work ethic slip at home. Too many distractions, and basically too comfortable an environment.

I love wfh and feel very lucky to do so. I work my arse off because I know it gives me an extra hour in the day and saves me extortionate petrol costs, so I make sure I'm visibly working hard as I don't want to lose the option! So much easier to juggle life and caring commitments. As with most things though, I think it's an individual thing...

Oh and I would also question the quality of leaders in a company, if they can’t manage their staff and manage productivity unless they have staff sat in front of them.

Our revenue targets increased by 50% this year. We now wfh four days a week, so no wasting time on commuting.

We're currently 31% ahead of last year. Money inward is a very accurate way to measure efficiency. Nowhere to hide.

Dh and I are both self employed, so only respond to our own efforts. Business is a success, targets met, therefore that’s good enough for me.

It doesn't affect mine, as I have the type of job where things have to get done by deadlines, however long it takes me to do them.

It's very lonely in the office, though as no one I work with is based in my location. I sit there feeling a total Billy No-Mates - have tried starting conversations but nothing catches on - it's hot desking so I'm in the middle of different random teams every time.

My work place values its employees and wfh is a choice open to all. Most choose this.

As a result retention is high and when we recruit we are inundated with high calibre candidates who wish to join us.

Our productivity has never been higher and our staff surveys tell us that people love working here.

My DH has wfh for 15 years. Productively. achieving promotions throughout that time.

Perhaps OP it's you who is not productive.

Some things are better from home- e.g. concentrated work, completing a task you know how to do, managing queries online. Things which the individual employee feels they benefit from.

Some things you need your employees to do as a business and they are less well done from home. E.g. helping a team learn new behaviours, improving quality levels by working on processes together, line management and performance management. Annoyingly these aren't usually seen as so key by the employee, especially those who don't see a need to grow or a burning platform to improve anything.

So people think they are more productive at home but are more useful to the organisation in the office. Hybrid is the tedious way forward.

It’s the same as anything. Some people will be more productive. Some people won’t. Some people will have a realistic view of their own performance. Some won’t.

I have been hybrid for years so it doesn’t really impact me. But if my teams have a particularly busy week, they wfh all week. Because they are more productive. I can measure it. They come in, usually, once or twice a week.
The company I worked for refused a one size fits all approach. Teams that were productive at home kept the freedom of wfh and hybrid. Those whose performance suffered, had to go back in.

I think it’s naive to believe that companies want people back just based on performance though.

I think as more companies try an enforce people to return to the office full time (or even 3 or 4 days a week) they will see more push back. It’s interesting times.

This.

Also, IME many people are more productive at
home. I go into the office fairly often. The amount of time wasted with inconsequential chats, general catching up with people (we have lots of peripatetic workers even pre covid), trips to the kitchen and so on is incredible. I churn out so much more work when I’m at home.

My company has a record breaking year in 2020, largely put down to the workforce being able to enjoy better quality breaks and also easier to work on for the half hour/hour that they would have otherwise wasted on the commute.
We are now officially a hybrid/flex workforce and the targets for 2023 have already been surpassed.
I think it depends on the workers and the company how well WFH works. Daft to argue it's all one way or the other.

Apparently individual productivity either remained the same or increased when initially measured during WFH lockdowns. However, since then, more thorough research has discovered that team productivity is way down.

My role includes a lot of creativity, I need to have time that looks like I’m wasting it, to be able to do my job. So it’s not possible to measure productivity really.

I'm very focused and efficient on site but just can't manage myself at home. I become a swirl of procrastination and distraction. It's a stressful guilt-ridden disaster for me and not something I'll do voluntarily ever again.

I'm a mixy mix. I love being in and seeing everyone BUT our office is louder and I do focus more when WFH. Everyone at work agrees.

However the main flaw is the software. We've tangibly lost productivity since switching emails from Outlook to another platform. And it's even worse when WFH since you don't have someone around to ask "hey, don't suppose you know how to do XX with this email?"

We rely on emails to help project manage and track projects.

It's definitely down to the individual company as my previous role was impossible to WFH so I was in the office alone during lockdown as I couldn't abide being home.