Balancing Act: The Future of Work-from-Home
Exploring the evolving landscape of remote work policies and their impact on productivity and worker satisfaction
As we’ve been talking to local government leaders for this newsletter over the past 10 months, the issue of work-from-home policies has come up more than once. I sense some frustration as the pandemic has passed and more organizations are requiring more employees to spend more time back in the office. It’s a complicated issue, so today’s TL;dr looks at different aspects of the challenge/opportunity currently facing managers and their employees. What’s working for your organization? How do hybrid schedules impact work culture? Inquiring minds want to know, so share in the comments! On that note, let’s dive in.
We’re Working Less on Fridays Than We Used To, And That’s OK
Is it really OK? Vanessa Fuhrmans, an editor and writer covering workplace issues for the Wall Street Journal, says you bet after talking to researchers as well as executives at companies that have embraced the benefits of a four-ish day work week. Here are the takeaways:
Enhanced Productivity and Well-being: Companies are finding shorter Fridays contribute to better performance during the rest of the week and help prevent employee burnout. This approach not only supports mental health but also maintains, if not enhances, overall productivity. “There’s no evidence that being in the office on Fridays improves productivity,” says Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University. “There’s plenty of evidence it really annoys people.”
Study Shows Adoption of Flexible Schedules Benefits Both Workers, Employers: Bloom studied 1,600 employees at a firm exploring hybrid work models. “On their days working from home, typically one day a week, employees tended to work two hours less than the full-time office group,” the article notes. “Many used the time for medical appointments, picking children up from school or exercise. But they made up 1.5 hours by working more over the rest of the week. They also took 15% fewer days off for sick leave and other absences, and their performance scores and promotion rates were the same as those of other workers.”
Cultural Shift Towards Less Performative Work: Many employees and companies are prioritizing meaningful work and results over mere facetime, leading to more focused and efficient use of working hours. Fuhrmans reports that Luke Liu, founder and chief executive of Albert, an interactive learning platform for grades 5-12, “moved to a half-day Friday policy in 2022 to alleviate worker burnout, reasoning that Friday afternoons were the least productive part of the week anyway.” She also reports: “In the 20 months since Liu initiated the policy, six employees have quit—about a fifth of his staff churn in the 20 months before.”
One Reason Hybrid Work Makes Employees Miserable. And How To Fix It
A Feb. 29 article in The Atlantic takes a deep dive on Takeaway 3 above. Cal Newport emphasizes how hybrid work contributes to an “overhead tax” i.e., where workers spend more time managing communications about tasks than performing the tasks themselves. Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout1. Here are my takeaways:
Overhead Tax Exacerbation: Hybrid work models, while flexible, can increase the number of the ad hoc assignments and the chaos of an overstuffed to-do list. This is due to misaligned schedules and the ease of passing tasks digitally, leading to a perpetual state of overload. “When people aren’t in the same place at the same time, what could be a quick in-person discussion becomes a virtual meeting,” Newport writes. “This helps explain a 2022 workplace report from Microsoft that found the number of online meetings had increased 252 percent from the start of the pandemic, exhausting the time available to get things done. To make matters worse, these meetings aren’t even that effective. The same Microsoft report found that 44 percent of hybrid employees say they don’t feel included in these online gatherings.”
Proposal for Uninterrupted Workdays: As a first step “in undoing the problems that frictionless digital communication have wrought,” Newport suggests days designated for remote work should focus exclusively on actual work without distractions like meetings or emails. This could help reduce the inflow of new tasks and manage the backlog more efficiently.
Benefits of Synchronized Team Schedules: Implementing a “hybrid attention” model where entire teams work remotely on the same days could streamline operations and enhance productivity. This approach minimizes the inefficiencies caused by staggered schedules and ensures that communication-heavy activities are concentrated on days when everyone is present in the office. “This hybrid attention model cuts to the core of the overload crisis,” Newport writes. “Given multiple days each week to do nothing but make progress on tasks, you’ll more easily contain your backlog of commitments.”
I’m curious if Newport’s suggestions and the survey results resonate with readers. Are any of you already handling hybrid work in this manner? Share in the comments, please.
City of Austin Telework Policy Supports 'Modern Working Environment,' Helps Meet Climate Goals
This one is a mash-up of a few articles about the City of Austin telework policy allowing many employees to work from home up to 50% of the time. The policy took an unusual route to final approval following protests from employees and advocacy by their union last spring against a mandate to return to the office. The stories highlight the difficulty of implementing teleworking policies for local governments, which have such varied functions, as well as the politics involved. Here are three takeaways:
Flexible Work Policy: Eligible City of Austin employees can work from home for half of their working hours within a two-week period. The policy excludes city executives and operational staff, such as those in public works and utilities, from teleworking. However, employees in roles such as call centers, IT, and some engineering positions may have the option to work entirely from home, showing a tailored approach to different departmental needs. Managers are working to ensure there is staff available for walk-in customers.
Employee Advocacy Impact: The policy was introduced after significant pushback from city employees and their union against last year’s mandate to return to office work. This highlights the influence of employee and union advocacy on workplace policies. Here is why Interim City Manager Jesús Garza proposed a more stringent policy, per a memo to employees: “It is imperative, in my opinion, that we work to ensure the public’s trust. We cannot completely do so if we are not present or responsive to their needs.” Garza’s opinion didn’t win out. How did the CM lose this one? Keep reading …
A (Keep Austin) Weird Route to Adoption: Employees and their union found advocates for a more flexible policy at the city’s Planning Commission, which typically addresses land use issues. “We are dictating, as a policymaking body, personnel decisions here. And that’s outside our scope,” Commissioner Adam Haynes said. Undeterred by that admonition, the commissioners voted 10-2 (with Haynes in favor) in January to recommend to the city council a more flexible policy that would help the city meet its climate change goals. The city council signed off on the new policy on Feb. 15, and doubled down on the effort, setting a goal to have 85 percent of eligible employees to participate in telework. The lone dissenting vote on the council noted it would be better to let the incoming, permanent city manager weigh in on such a critical human resource issue.
In Other’s Words
Speaking of employment issues for government, here are the top line findings from The State of Local Government Survey by Open Gov, which queried 500-plus public sector leaders.
Uri Berliner, a 25-year veteran journalist at NPR, wrote an article in The Free Press sharing how he thinks the venerable public radio broadcaster lost its way in recent years. He also sat down for an interview with the Honestly podcast and had this to say about the American news media generally, and not just NPR.
People don’t like us. They don’t trust us anymore. They don’t believe in what we are selling. … The level of trust has just plummeted, and understandably so. ... the idea we are trying to push an outlook, trying to shove this into our audience and make them think a certain way, I think it just turns people off.
Speaking of trust and the truth, here’s a helpful thought from Gurwinder Bhogal, who writes The Prism, A Guide to Navigating the Digital Age from a post headlined “Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things.”
Humility and curiosity, then, are what we most need to find truth. By seeking one we also seek the other: being curious makes us humble, because it shows us how little we know, and in turn, being humble makes us curious, because it helps us acknowledge that we need to learn more.
Onward and Upward.
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