BT

Facilitating the Spread of Knowledge and Innovation in Professional Software Development

Write for InfoQ

Topics

Choose your language

InfoQ Homepage News Conflicting Reports on Remote Worker Productivity and Contentment

Conflicting Reports on Remote Worker Productivity and Contentment

This item in japanese

Remote working is becoming normal for the tech industry, with most tech employees working remotely due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19. Studies and surveys are trying to measure the impact on productivity that organisations are seeing as a result of the shift. The results are conflicting and illustrate the complexity of the times we find ourselves in.

Different surveys and investigations find ranges from a 1% productivity drop to a 47% productivity increase, highly varying levels of satisfaction with working remotely and significant differences between seasoned remote workers and those who are suddenly remote due to COVID-19.

Valoir released the results of a survey accompanied by in depth interviews which concludes that the overall productivity impact from the sudden shift to remote working is only a 1% drop compared to their previous findings. Aternity released a three-volume summary of their study which found significant productivity variations across different countries and regions. The Aternity study found that productivity (measured by hours worked computer time) dropped by 8.5% in Europe and increased by 23% in North America. Forbes reports on data from Prodoscore employee productivity tracking software that shows a 47% increase in productivity from remote workers.

Pipefy, in their Pulse of Remote Work Before and After COVID-19 report, contrasted the experience of people who were already working remotely before COVID-19 and those who are newly remote. 41% of newly remote workers want to go back to the office, 20% want to continue working remotely all the time and 39% would like to work remotely part of the time.

The challenges for newly remote workers include:

  • Distractions - 63%
  • Work-life balance - 36%
  • Collaboration/communication issues - 31%
  • No designated office space - 28%
  • IT infrastructure issues - 13%
  • No supervision - 9%

These findings are a contrast to the picture painted in the Buffer State of Remote Work Report, which largely looked at the picture prior to COVID-19 lockdowns. InfoQ covered the Buffer report in March.

The Pipefy results are summarised in this infographic:

Pipefy Pulse of Remote Work amid COVID-19 infographic

 

Rate this Article

Adoption
Style

BT