WFH could become ‘relic’ of past

Work from home? – good for environment, good for WLB (#worklifebalance), but good for productivity?

More and more research is coming out, some contrary to each other. Happier people are more productive, and a great WLB makes happier people, but then do we “toil” too much at home – loosing productivity by estimates here of 18+ %.

Working from home for just one day a week could save over 379kg of #co2emissions , according to Loop*- CO2 saving is equivalent to a short-haul flight from London to Istanbul*.

This is just the savings in driving- there is also savings across the entire infrastructure of transport use , maintenance, and infrastructure.

Let alone the savings to companies in less office space potentially needed, heating, supplies and other overheads.

Would these overhead savings negate losses in productivity? And would it really just need a management and training shift – to set #workfromhome rhythms. Utilizing psychometrics to identify work types/ work rhythms for different styles.

Could better understanding and management – take advantage of work from home, and close the gap on productivity whilst raising the cost and environment savings, as boosting work, life balance?

And then we have the #4dayweek #fourth ! Where early trials have shown greatest productivity because of more intense focus and less distraction*, with Spain and Scotland, wining elections with the promise of trialing a four-day week, Here in Australia, a Senate committee inquiry has recommended a national trial of the four-day week*.

The work from home show-down is on!

As The Economist reports this week, employers around the world are pushing hard to get employees back in the office, citing concerns over decreased productivity (drops of up to 19% apparently) and ossifying social networks.

The graph below shows the actual average days #wfh around the world 🌍, compared to how many days employers had planned and how many days employees wanted – interesting 🤔.

As someone who has run an almost entirely virtual, global team since 2016, long before most people had thought of #wfh, this whole debate is fascinating.

Until recently, 95% of my team were either interstate or international, so being in one place together happened…. almost never! We still got our work done.

These days, there are four of us in Sydney, one in the Gold Coast, four in the Philippines, one in the States, several in India and a couple in France.

Our international teams meet daily online, so do our domestic teams. Our Sydney team spends a day together each week and we try to get our international folks down here a couple of times a year.

I really enjoy the way we work. I’m energized by the time I spend with team members in person, but I also get A LOT done when it’s just me and my iMac.

Would my team and I be more productive if we had to be in an office every or most days?

I’m not so sure… what do you think?