University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
What If Working from Home Goes on…Forever?
Article

What If Working from Home Goes on…Forever?

Miserable as it can often be, remote work is surprisingly productive – leading many employers to wonder if they’ll ever go back to the office.

Clive Thompson
New York Times Magazine, 2020
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9

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Working remotely is now the norm for most white-collar employees. The results of the coronavirus office exodus are opening leaders’ eyes to future possibilities. Productivity has increased in many cases, but isolation and “Zoom fatigue” highlight the shortfalls of the available technology. As Clive Thompson reports in The New York Times Magazine, companies are creating new options to provide the videoconferencing world with a greater sense of community – and corporate culture – based on creative conversations.

Summary

Working from home, even in sales, exceeds expectations regarding productivity.

Josh Harcus, who usually spends 80% of his time in the field selling robotic vacuums, was unsure about working from home. Happily, he found that executives at prospective client companies were open to Zoom meetings and that a video of the robotic vacuum in action gave them enough information to sign a $6,000 yearly lease. Executives at SoftBank Robotics expressed as much surprise as Harcus did. They had expected sales to decrease and, instead, productivity rose.

Consultant Accenture’s workforce of half a million people now works from home. Using Microsoft Teams to interact and coordinate has led to a “sixfold” increase in video calls. Since mid-March, the group has logged “900 million minutes” or “1,700 years” of conversations. All this online action has fueled an increase in productivity.

Studies show that this productivity boost isn’t a coincidence. Remote work allows employees to work without colleagues...

About the Author

Clive Thompson is a columnist for Wired and Smithsonian. His most recent book is Coders.

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