Work from home is still a debate - which is the best situation? It depends on who you ask, but is there any hard data to justify a decision? As it turns out, yes!
Here are Five Fast Facts on the conflict between working from home and the office:
- 📈📉 The Landscape - How many people work from home? Work days logged from home made up about 10% of all work days pre-pandemic. The pandemic peak of WFH days reached 60% during the shutdowns, but is now down to about 27%.
- 📣🚽 The Facts - One of the reasons WFH caught on is because of the noise levels and distractions. A survey last fall found that noise level was one of the most important things about an office – ranked just below working toilets! – but only 32% were satisfied with their office’s noise level. Other experiments show high noise levels increase stress, heart rate, and negative moods. Non-working toilets don’t help, either.
- 🔨 The Leverage - Typically, workers favor WFH, but employers favor working in the office. This disconnect has actually been used by 18% of HR professionals to reduce headcount, and almost 40% of managers believe their organization did layoffs because fewer workers than expected quit after being mandated to return to the office. But yay for plausible deniability, right?
- 👍 The Latest - A new study of more than 1600 workers in a global travel firm shows that a hybrid approach seems to be the best. Working two days from home and three days in the office reduced quit rates, improved job satisfaction, and didn’t negatively impact performance. Win-win!
- 🤔 The Exceptions - The study compared the hybrid plan to full time in-office workers; it did not compare to full time WFH workers or workers who have a choice (let that debate continue!). It also noted that managers believed they would lose productivity through the hybrid approach, but they actually gained 1%, so their views shifted, and that likely influenced the outcome, as well.
🔥Bottom line: These studies can be very helpful as companies are faced with navigating this decision, and for workers whose jobs hang in the balance. Hopefully, you’re in a situation where you get to work how you want, and your employer facilitates that choice!
Do you work from home?
Let us know by connecting with us on Facebook and Instagram! Also, remember to share this newsletter with your friends & coworkers!
BTW, If you’ve read this far and haven’t yet signed up for the weekly Paycheckology newsletter, CLICK HERE!
