How (un)productive are we in the home office?

As a leader, you must learn to trust your employees. According to Microsoft, this is very important to keep your employees even in uncertain times. It’s statistically proven that hybrid workers continue to be productive.

In the new edition of the Work Trend Index, Microsoft shares the results of its global survey data for leaders and also provides valuable action tips. 

In recent months, the hybrid model has become more mainstream. However, employees and executives don’t always agree on how well the new work model is working. There is still a clear perception gap. For example, flexible working conditions are highly valued by employees. The majority of 87% think they are just as productive at work as before. However, many managers are not so sure about this yet. The majority of 85% find it hard to trust that the productivity of hybrid workers is consistent. 

Evaluation of Microsoft

According to Microsoft, however, the data clearly speaks for employees. For example, weekly meetings were already up 153% earlier this year compared to pre-pandemic times. So far this year, no trend reversal has been observed either. In addition, it has been shown that around 42% of employees perform other tasks during meetings, and this does not even include passive activities (e.g. reading emails).

In order to check the activity times of employees, some managers rely on opaque activity tracking, which undermines the relationship of trust. Microsoft itself also had such a tool on offer until the end of 2020.

At the very least, this is purposeful. Managers must learn to trust, otherwise the long-term success of the remote model and thus of hybrid work is at risk. It is therefore all the more important to show employees what is important on the basis of Objective Key Results. A corporate culture in which quality is rewarded instead of quantity also promotes a relationship of trust between employees and managers. 

For the new edition of the Work Trend Index, Microsoft surveyed a total of 20,000 full-time employees in 11 countries (Germany, France, England, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Canada and the USA) between July 7 and August 2, 2022. The survey data is representative for all countries.

You can view the complete report for free: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work-is-just-work

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* Source: Heise