THE TRENDS SHAPING WORK IN 2022: PRODUCTIVITY METRICS
The way we measure productivity – and how we define it – is changing in the hybrid world.
The way we measure productivity – and how we define it – is changing in the hybrid world.
The hybrid working revolution – which lets people work remotely at home and at local workspaces, making the occasional visit to head office – can pose a challenge for managers. If their team is out of sight, and only glimpsed occasionally on Zoom, how do they know they are being productive? For some, the answer lies in technology.
A growing number of tools are now available for employers to monitor the activities of remote workers. For example, sites such as Time Doctor, HiveDesk and Monitask enable automatic screenshots of workers’ screens and also track the amount of time they actually spend working. “When your employees see how tracking their time gives them valuable knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses – when they are overwhelmed and when they are underutilised – you’ll be amazed at how productive, accountable and self-directed they become,” says Time Doctor.
Project management tools such as Asana, Trello and Workforce, which make it easier for remote colleagues to collaborate virtually on projects, can also play a role in monitoring productivity. The time that a task is completed is usually logged, and likewise when a message is sent or a file is uploaded.
However, the line between monitoring productivity and invading privacy can be a fine one. Some companies have been criticised for considering the use of facial recognition tools that can tell whether an employee is at their desk when they are supposed to be. Such a technology could also capture images of an employee’s family or housemates, which would be hugely intrusive.
Productivity in a hybrid world
Seeing productivity simply in terms of time spent working at a screen may be missing the point in the hybrid world. A 2021 survey by Microsoft of more than 30,000 global workers found that productivity actually remained the same or was higher for more than four fifths of employees when they were working remotely for much of the time. Meetings were going on for longer, more emails were being sent and more documents were being worked on. But, at the same time, more than half felt overworked, and more than a third said they felt exhausted.
“While it may be tempting to equate high levels of employee activity with success, doing so misses the factors that drive long-term sustainable innovation,” Microsoft Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan wrote in Harvard Business Review. “We must expand the way we think about productivity to focus on wellbeing, social connections and collaboration, and the innovation they bring to drive business success.”
Teevan suggests that remote workers should be allowed to design their days to include other priorities such as family, fitness or hobbies, and they should take a nap if they need one. And she says teams need to carefully plan how and when they want to work together in person in order to make the most from collaboration.
Many experts agree that, in the new hybrid world, the focus for employers should increasingly be on outcomes rather than output. “Without the predictable 9-to-5, office-focused working cadence, successful companies will stop trying to measure hours worked and units produced and instead focus on customer satisfaction, revenue and time to market,” says Sheela Subramanian, Senior Director at Slack’s Future Forum.
https://old.iwgplc.com/MediaCentre/Article/2022-work-trends-productivity-metrics