Remote vs. Office: Misattributed Productivity and the Art of Closing the Loop
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Preamble
I would like to express my appreciation for all the people I have worked with over the years. Each experience has taught me something valuable, and being exposed to new people in new situations is a gift. This blog entry is intended as an examination of the human power structure and its role in corporate life. While I appreciate the role of leadership and the skill and care possessed by strong leaders, I believe that as freedom and power become more evenly distributed among people, the role of management will need to evolve rapidly to stay effective. My goal as always is examination, introspection, iteration, improvement, execution. I aim to explore how we can all adapt to changing dynamics in the workplace, and in the lives of others. Thank you.
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The debate between remote work and office work often centers around management's favorite buzzword, 'productivity.' When talking about productivity, it is important to understand whose perspective we are measuring from (management or employees) and whose judgment of 'productivity' matters, and what 'productivity' means to each person. While working from an office may seem more productive to management and offer management a greater quality of life due to higher employee output, an employee may prefer working from home, as that gives the employee a better quality of life. So now that we know we really mean 'quality of life' when we say 'productivity,' whose quality of life matters, and how can it be improved for all?
Understanding the Office Productivity Illusion
There is a dynamic in the office that can create the illusion of high productivity, either consciously on unconsciously: managements physical presence is display of power. In the office, tasks are harder to dismiss when instructions are delivered face-to-face, and procrastination is less tempting when your boss is right around the corner and can check on you at any moment. However, this perception can mask a deeper truth: the productivity observed in-office may rely more on a built-in intimidation structure rather than actual employee efficiency. A manager may have a direct or indirect effect on employee paychecks, bonuses, time off, what team you are allowed to work with, negative employee reviews, or even direct termination. Employees may feel pressured to handle issues that are directly in front of them rather than less tangible tasks on their to-do list. This psychological dynamic may appear to management as greater productivity because management, like the employee, is concerned with the immediate tasks in front of them. 'If an employee handles my issue with urgency, they must be productive' never mind the other higher-priority issues that employee has to deal with. When seeing an employee complete a task in this manner, what we are really seeing is a shrinking of the feedback loop by coercion, rather than collaboration; a consequence is known, an instruction is given, carried out, and a result delivered with minimal delay. This is the power that management has when working with someone in person.
The Value of Remote Work for Employees
Remote work offers employees greater freedom and flexibility, enhancing their quality of life by reducing commute times, allowing for a more personalized work environment, and by working from home, they will be more available to their families and loved ones, especially for emergencies, which better serves their imperative of family wellness. Here, employee wellness is measured as degrees of freedom. This can sometimes be seen as a 'better' working situation without considering actual productivity or management's perspective toward productivity. Productivity might genuinely decrease when working from home, but employees may be willing to trade productivity for more freedom, which will improve the employees quality of life, a better working situation. in this situation, there is a larger feedback loop between instructins given and results delivered, and the employee has more control over the feedback loop, which can be seen as a better quality of life for them, but worse quality of life for management. Because of this self-centered nature, remote work challenges traditional power dynamics, highlighting the need for new strategies to maintain accountability and output. Here we arrive at the issue of a new kind of effort required on the part of management; to conceive of new tools and processes and understand the needs of their employees, rather than treating employees as a whole. This is where the concept of consciously 'closing the loop' comes in.
Closing the Loop: A Superconscious Approach to Productivity
The solution to maintaining productivity in remote work environments lies in "closing the loop." This approach involves reducing the feedback loop, anticipating employee needs, and being a leading example in descriptive communication, leading with a solution or provide acceptable criteria so that when someone acts on your feedback, they have a direct path to action and success, reducing the iteration/feedback loop. Management will need to shift from relying on implicit intimidation to; proactively setting clear expectations, understanding employee needs, anticipating ambiguity in workflow, and providing the necessary tools. which may include:
- • Anticipating Needs: Predict questions and issues before they arise to reduce back-and-forth communication and streamline processes. Understand your team's challenges and address them beforehand, minimize headaches and obstacles that may discourage/derail productive work.
- • Setting Clear Timelines: Establish clear deadlines and deliverables to provide structure and accountability. Collaborate with your team to determine what is reasonable, ensuring everyone has a hand in achieving goals, and in turn, everyone will feel like a rightful part of celebrating milestones.
- • Building Open Communication: Encourage open lines of communication to address concerns and provide feedback promptly. Introduce people, be a host, create new communication channels between related teams/employees.
- • Internal Tooling and Process: Ensure your team develops internal tools as part of the workflow to alleviate workload, or develop these tools with other interdependent teams. Also, create a process that everyone can understand at a glance, no context required, no explanations required, minimize the points of potential failure.
Where Do We Go From Here? Redefining Management's Role
In this new landscape, managers must recognize their reduced physical influence and adapt by becoming facilitators of productivity rather than enforcers. This involves building trust, setting realistic expectations, and understanding the scope of your employees' responsibilities. By closing the loop and building a culture of mutual respect and accountability, remote work can achieve, and even surpass, the productivity levels traditionally associated with office environments. Managers must view productivity as more than just the tasks they direct their employees to; an employee's productivity encompasses all their responsibilities through many departments and timelines, and the better a manager can balance their own priorities in the equation, the better they can help employees manage all of their commitments.
The debate between remote and office work is not about which is inherently better, because we all have different priorities, it's more about what employees are willing to tolerate, and what management is willing to be flexible on, and how management may adapt to compromises. By Closing the Loop, we can preserve the benefits of remote work for employees (maintaining their quality of life) while also remaining as productive as in-office settings (maintaining management's quality of life). Creating a balanced and fulfilling work environment for everyone requires the stage to first be set by the hosts, and requires participants to follow along in a cohesive manner. This is the way to move forward with remote work as a permanent feature of the employment landscape.