After reading the article, Are We In a Productive Boom? For Clues Look to 1994, I started thinking about my own view on remote work, in-person work, and hybrid work.
Regarding productivity, in my own experience, I have found remote working to be where I am most productive. I think this is because it allows me to be comfortable in a place of my choosing and puts me in a mindset of wanting to get everything I'm working on out of the way so I can move on to the next. I think this is likely the same outcome for many people, despite the myriad of distractions that people have at home, at a coffee shop, etc.
I compare this to working in-person at an office, full time. When at the office, there are less distractions, but because of the environment, people may fall into more distractions such as looking at their phone, talking with coworkers, etc. In my experience, and from talking to other people, productivity is not as high in the workplace because people feel stuck at the office and are waiting to go on their lunch break, home, or go meet up with friends after.
Because of the difference in my personal opinion on working remotely vs. in-person, I am really a big fan of the hybrid work method. I believe this allows employees more freedom in their schedule, but also is probably a way to boost productivity. If there are employees who work from home a few days a week, but know they need to be in the office on a specific day for something, they will probably be more productive on that day in the office because it is a change in environment and they have a specific reason they are there on that day.
I am also a fan of the hybrid model, but more as a compromise. I prefer working remotely as well because I find "water cooler" talk to be rather time consuming. The brief distraction of the conversation might throw off my train of thought and add a lot of time to the task.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I understand that many companies are concerned about the WFH model (although I think their reasons are unjustified). My hope is to work for a firm that allows for hybrid work because there are plenty of tasks that can be accomplished from home at least as well as I could in office.
I also agree that a hybrid model is the best option. The job I currently work at lets us do this and I love it! I tend to go to the office on days I have more important tasks because it has less distractions but I like to work at home when the commute is extra long or I don't have many important tasks to complete.
ReplyDeleteI really like the hybrid model as well. When I am at home I have a really hard time separating study space from home space. It is even more distracting to have my dogs around because I just want to play with them. At the same time, being in the office every single day is also not always a productive use of time, energy, and money. There are things that can be done that definitely do not need to be done in office. Generally, I think there is an overall time and place for everything.
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