During the past few years, there has been a tremendous increase in productivity in the United States[1]. Undoubtedly, this is due to technological improvements, including automation, software, and most importantly, outsourcing and remote work.
While it’s normal to estimate one’s productivity as “higher than average,” it is important to have a bit of humility in this regard. After all, this confidence may be much like the phenomenon that 73% of drivers consider themselves better than average[2]. However, there are a lot of ways to improve productivity and understanding that we could in fact work more effectively is the first step toward doing so.
There are a couple of other important factors to add into this mix.
First, e-mail is the primary form of communication in the office. The average worker spends 4.1 hours per day on e-mail[3], much of it potentially from workers who are just down the hall. This means that there’s no particular reason that these communications happen via e-mail; they simply do. However, it opens up the possibility that these communications need not be location-based.
Second, unnecessary e-mails waste a lot of time, reduce productivity, and annoy workers[4]. How much of this is productivity leaking away simply because one is carbon-copied in on irrelevant details, projects that have nothing to do with us, or even stuck in a string of bad jokes back and forth between the two guys down the hall who wear ugly ties?
Third, commutes are stressful. Stressed workers are crippled workers; a study from Towers-Watson suggests that stressed workers feel unproductive 57 percent of the time[5]. Worse, imagine if these people are actually overestimating their productivity as drivers do.
One simple, cost-effective, and productivity-boosting way to increase productivity and limit the quantity of irrelevant details people get caught up in is to encourage people to work remotely. Remote workers don’t take up pricey office space, they don’t suffer from commute-related stress, and they are less likely to get up in the latest office-gossip e-mail string.
Working remotely requires, of course, clear and effective briefings and communication. This becomes the rule rather than the exception, simply because it has to be. Furthermore, people working from home show a marked boost in productivity[6]. Whether this is from the lack of commute, the less-stressful environment, enjoying the responsibility of more self-directed work is immaterial: the boost in productivity speaks for itself.
With its reliance on effective
communication, its decrease in stress levels, and its increase in productivity,
remote work is an excellent option to consider.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-are-overconfident-in-their-driving-skills-2018-1
[3]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/10/03/how-many-hours-of-your-life-have-you-wasted-on-work-email-try-our-depressing-calculator/
[4] https://www.ciphr.com/advice/email-overload
[5] https://www.towerswatson.com/en/Press/2014/09/Workplace-stress-leads-to-less-productive-employees
[6] https://people.stanford.edu/nbloom/sites/default/files/wfh.pdf