Last month, Stuart Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, claimed that people working from home were “not doing proper work”, adding that remote work had a negative impact on productivity and personal progression.
Rose is not alone in his assertion. There is a common perception among business leaders that employees work less when at home. While 87% of workers believe they are as or more efficient while working from home, 80% of managers take the opposite view, according to a Microsoft survey. This is something the tech company describes as productivity paranoia.
This paranoia may not be totally unfounded. One-fifth of employees admit to spending at least one hour per day on non-work activities during their contracted hours, according to a survey of 2,000 UK workers conducted by Raconteur in partnership with Attest.
Homeworkers confessed to engaging in a range of activities during these unproductive hours, including household chores (58%), watching television (49%), exercising (28%) and walking the dog (23%).
Three in 10 admitted to switching off from work completely and taking a nap, while 15% have been intimate with a partner while working remotely.
Does it really matter?
Although the survey findings play into some of the concerns employers have around remote working, those working from an office are just as likely to spend time away from their desks, according to Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO of flexible jobs site Flexa.
“It’s true that some remote employees use company time for non-work activities,” she says. “But these workers are just as likely to stray off-task in offices, where they might swap daytime TV for extended trips to the local coffee shop or catch up on weekend plans with colleagues.”
Gemma Dale, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, who is currently researching flexible and remote work, also thinks the notion that employees are more distracted when working from home is misguided.
“I don’t see this as a productivity issue – I see it as people managing their life around their work,” she says. “There is often a built-in assumption that employees who work from home will somehow take advantage or skive. However, there is almost no evidence that this is true. In fact, many people end up working longer days.”
People are used to more flexibility and would be very unwilling to give it up
Dale sees no issue with people running errands or doing other tasks during the working hours, as long as the work is still done. “Work does not have to take place at a specific time or at the same time as other people are working to be ‘good’ work,” she says. “And no one who ever worked in an office truly believes that people are productive all day there either.”
However, employers do have the power to discipline staff if they notice working remotely is proving detrimental. “If someone’s not carrying out their duty, because they’re at home doing their chores, having a nap or even playing Mario Kart, then that could be deemed a conduct or disciplinary issue,” says Charlie Thompson, partner and employment lawyer at Stewarts, a law firm.
Depending on the mitigations, an employer may decide whether to issue a first warning, final warning or even dismissal, if it’s deemed to fall within a range of reasonable responses, Thompson adds.
The risks of enforcing an office return
But productivity is not the only reason companies have given for enforcing an office return. Amazon, WPP and JP Morgan are among a growing number of businesses requiring people to come into the office more frequently because of the perceived benefits it brings to innovation, collaboration and workplace culture.
Introducing a return-to-office mandate can come with its own set of risks. WPP CEO Mark Reed’s announcement that employees will be expected to be in the office four days a week was met with backlash from employees and 20,000 people have signed a petition asking him to revoke the new rule.
Raconteur and Attest’s polling shows that those who already benefit from flexible working are more likely to oppose any changes to these rules. Almost half (46%) of homeworkers say they would immediately seek new employment if they were asked to come into the office full time. Meanwhile, 16% of hybrid workers say they would lobby leadership to reconsider.
Johnson-Jones says: “People are used to having more flexibility over work than they’ve ever had before and would be very unwilling to give it up.”
The same is also true for jobseekers. Around a quarter (24%) of UK workers say they would be less likely to apply for a job that did not allow them to work from home.
Rachael Marshall, a director within Gartner’s HR research and advisory practice, says: “Mandated on-site requirements can carry steep costs for talent attraction and retention, especially for high-performing and under-represented talent, that far outweigh any moderate benefits to engagement and discretionary efforts.”
Companies that do decide to bring employees back to the office more frequently should carefully consider how this message is delivered. Marshall advises companies to involve staff in this decision and clearly communicate the reasons for the change. “It’s not that everyone has to love that change is happening,” she says. “They just have to understand why it’s happening.”
Ultimately, companies will have to weigh up the risks that a change in their flexible work policy may have for talent attraction, retention and employee engagement. Any issues around productivity are unlikely to be solved just by bringing people into the office more often.
Last month, Stuart Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, claimed that people working from home were “not doing proper work”, adding that remote work had a negative impact on productivity and personal progression.
Rose is not alone in his assertion. There is a common perception among business leaders that employees work less when at home. While 87% of workers believe they are as or more efficient while working from home, 80% of managers take the opposite view, according to a Microsoft survey. This is something the tech company describes as productivity paranoia.
This paranoia may not be totally unfounded. One-fifth of employees admit to spending at least one hour per day on non-work activities during their contracted hours, according to a survey of 2,000 UK workers conducted by Raconteur in partnership with Attest.
