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

I wfh permanently, I have taken on a far wider role as I am more productive. My boss recognises that we would need at least one more part time employee to do this additional work if I was commuting. I think that speaks for itself in terms of productivity. I do of course sometimes idle away the time doing non work stuff, Same as I would have done having random coffees, extended lunches, post work drinks, when I was in the office.

I am busier in the office. I actually achieve more working from home.

Unfortunately there are a minority who take the piss when wfh, which then affects all of us. Our big bank is asking for people to go back in the office because it’s easier pulling in everyone rather than just focussing on the lazy workers, who generally would be the ones who would go ballistic if they were solely targeted. Taking it to HR etc.

Nail on the head there. Exactly my opinion and experience. You have to look at the bigger picture, not on an individual level. If an employee locked themselves in an office and took the phone off the hook, they'd be personally more productive, but their colleagues around them may be less productive. Same applies with WFH.

When I worked for other people (now self employed), I was often away from the office working at clients' premises (management accounting) and as a result, I didn't feel part of the team as I spent very little time in the office, working alongside my colleagues, so something was lost there - I wasn't there to help/support them and I wasn't there to learn from them as to the firms' other clients, ethos, etc. On the few occasions when I spent periods in the office (usually the odd week or two when I wasn't booked out on client visits), working alongside other staff really made me feel part of the team again, there was a far better exchange of ideas, support, which benefitted me, the other staff and the organisation as a whole.

Strictly speaking he’s not more productive in that example, he’s working 2 more hours. More productive would be getting the same amount (or more) work done in the same time.

I don’t believe there is a ‘one size fits all’ approach to wfh/flexible working. My husband wfh two days a week and it more productive as he is able to work for 2 hours longer than he can in the office (they moved the office during COVID so is now at 40min drive, 70min train, 10 min walk). He also just got voted ‘person of the year’ with the comments of ‘he always knows what’s going on’ and ‘it always available to work’. If he wasn’t productive that wouldn’t be the case. He is also much happier, has a better diet for at least those two days and a better work life balance.

Without so much as a grain of facetiousness I genuinely think comparing WFH to working from the office, in every aspect including productivity is like comparing whether it's better to take an aeroplane to fly internationally or try to swim, walk and sail to your destination.

If only it were more normalised. Its reputation as a haven for the shirkers helps everyone else but workers themselves. The idea that the pitfalls of WFH are such that it's better to work in the office is so deeply rooted that even those it would benefit actively campaign against it.

Wow what platform would you want to use instead of outlook? If it's Google you have all my sympathy

I think it can simultaneously be true that an individual feels more productive working from home but it’s not more productive for the organisation as a whole.

For example when I’m in the office I get interrupted often because people need to catch me with quick queries. Individually they might take 5 minutes to resolve in person. This interrupts my work so may make me less productive than if I was at home getting my head down. But all those interruptions are work related and if it’s harder for other people to speak to me and resolve their issues which might be holding them up (which it is harder to do remotely, whatever people say about Teams) the organisation as a whole is less productive.

But it's true. During the first lockdown it was very obvious that one of our team members had to be micromanaged. Fortunately, he left and made life a lot easier for the rest of us.

I think it massively depends on what you do.

I am definitely more productive WFH and I'm in an industry where that is easily quantifiable.

If I worked more with colleagues/customers I might be more productive in the office since regular interaction and conversations would help.

I also think a lot of managers have roles where they organise meetings and basically just check up on people, rather than producing clear output. So those managers want people back in the office for their own productivity. It became very clear during covid that a lot of our middle managers were unnecessary!

Bingo

for my job we need to work as a team. We need to find solutions for problems, creativity, combined forces, lots of brainstorming needed.

Sometimes people think they know best and they don’t need to discuss their case with anybody. WFh they might think they are more productive because they don’t take time to interact with other people. But in the end the quality of their work might be lacking and business value might be lower.

It depends completely on the individual. Personally, I’m much more productive in the office and go in three times a week. I also quite like to see my colleagues and feel like I’m one of a team.

I get loads more done wfh, my output is easily double. I struggle to concentrate with loads of noisy people around. I do go into the office once a week and I write that off as a lost day, but worth it to connect with others.

Stats wise our staff get more work done at home. But it’s good for collaborative working to come in a couple of times a week. Also new staff struggle with just doing online training and we often have some face to face planning sessions which are so much more productive. Most staff are ok with the 2 office days, some don’t see the point or complain but there is a home working contract you can apply for if you qualify. You lose your London allowance though if not living a certain distance from London

Staff say they are more productive, maybe they are (I am). But that’s not the point - the point is that workplaces don’t want to end up with remote workforces without a facetime culture, as this has long term implications.

They are two different things.

WfH productivity is good if you work on your own, and have lots of deliverables that can be measured by an output e.g. number of invoices processed in an hour, number of calls made in an hour. Those kind of roles can easily be more productive with no distractions.

WfH productivity is not so good if you have to work in a team doing various bits of the tasks to get the final job done. Sitting in the same bank of desks and collaborating organically in person is much more efficient than holding several Teams meetings and working on your own at home and reconvening every now and then, which may or may not be the right time for everyone to stop.

I run a team of 30 people (although I only have 3 direct reports), who work collaboratively, and in my view hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days WfH) is the perfect compromise and works well for both employees and employers. It's not what I currently have, although I did work in that pattern at a previous workplace.

I’m sure there are people who are productive at home but you only have to read the numerous threads about people WFH with a baby/toddler to save on childcare, to realise that many won’t be.

It entirely depends on the person. I'm not more productive at home. In fact I hated WFH as I had zero motivation and I quickly realised that the only good thing about my job was my colleagues so I quit and got an office based job instead.

I worked from home last week as I had Covid and I managed to watch an entire series of the good doctor so I’m going to say no haha!

I am in a job which can't be done from home so have no skin in the game but I do think there can be "empty" periods of time when working in an office. Perhaps workplaces could be more flexible about starting and finishing times so long as work is done, rather than expecting staff to be physically present between certain hours every day.

One of my clients (not my employer) has an issue with me wfh because he can't see anything happening! It's very tedious reading messages about days off/watching Netflix etc. And it's 1 day a week maximum

I work in a role where you are assigned a batch of work each day - each case has a type and a time associated with it - so productivity is easy to measure in fact the TLs get a report each morning on each staff members productivity from the day before.

WFH I am always over 100% i.E clear my batch and pick up extra - days in the office I am always around 95% so I am proven to be more productive at home

standard in our work place is 2 days home and 3 days office - some of us have been switched to 3 days home 2 days office due to the pattern in our productivity.

Anyone who drops below 85% for 3 or more of their wfh days in a month has the “privilege” of WFH removed and must be office 5 days a week.

so I guess it differs for every person.

I assume companies just want people back in so they aren’t paying rent on empty offices?