Lentis/Office Productivity in the Changing Workplace

Introduction

The early 20th century concept that working more strenuous hours increased overall productivity has been challenged by employees and employers alike. Today, many companies in the United States, and around the world are looking to use alternative approaches to increase workplace output without increasing the burden on workers. These new trends promote employee freedom, flexibility and comfort. Many employers are enticing workers with options such as remote work, fewer working hours and incentive programs. Research has shown that these techniques can be effective. However, the implementation has varied significantly across American workplaces.

Telecommuting

Overview

Working from home, or “telecommuting”, entered the modern American workplace in the 1970’s. Despite initial pushbacks, telecommuting continued to steadily rise through the turn of the century with support from the National Telecommuting Initiative. In the past decade, the percentage of people working from home has increased dramatically. And more so in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, CDC guidelines encouraged companies to pursue telecommuting to lessen the risk of infection. As a result of public health concerns, companies enabled their employees to work from home resulting in a 35% increase in telecommuting. But even as the pandemic subsided, people still preferred to work from home.

Positive Impact

Remote work has many benefits including saving employees hundreds of dollars per month on commuting and food. It also reduces carbon emissions directly, with fewer cars on the road. Remote work has proven effective for many, with 57% of employees claiming they are more productive and 49% claiming concentration improves when working from home. Sixty-four percent of Americans cited a better work-life balance. Psychologically, an imbalance in this regard can lead to exhaustion and Occupational Burnout Syndrome which decreases productivity. Employers are recognizing this; 82% of management leaders will permit remote work at least one day a week. Some will go further. Industry leaders such as Airbnb, Lyft, and 3M allow completely remote and hybrid work for nearly all employees.

Negative Effects

Although telecommuting is appealing to many, there are drawbacks to be considered. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter, believes that remote employees can "pretend to work", or not work as hard without supervision. The companies have given ultimatums: return to in person work for at least 40 hours a week or leave. Furthermore, remote work can increase inequalities among economic classes. During COVID-19, 73% of those making greater than $200,000/year were able to telecommute, while only 12.7% of those making less than $25,000/year were able to telecommute. And, while some workers have seen an increase in mental health, others have reported a blurring of work-life balance, leading to a decrease in mental health.

40 Hour Work Week

Background

During the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century, workers were often required to work upwards of 80 hours a week. The majority of work was physically demanding, leading to high amounts of fatigue among employees. This led to labor unions, such as the American Federation of Labor, advocating for a decrease in working hours. Throughout the early 20th century, working standards fluctuated, but a general downward trend in required hours was seen. By the early to mid 1900s, the progress of labor unions along with the influence of Henry Ford's assembly line, popularized the 40 hour work week. In 1940, the United States government amended the Fair Labor Standards Act solidifying the 40 hour work week. Since 1940, standards have generally remained the same: 9am to 5pm, 5 days a week. It is only recently that the status quo has started to be questioned by scientists and companies looking to increase efficiency and adapt to the changing work environment.

The Role of Technology

On the subject of productivity, technology is naturally at the forefront of the conversation. Both long standing progress and recent developments have led to the reckoning that workplace expectations are currently facing. Twentieth century technology has shifted the focus of employees away from algorithmic processes, which have become increasingly automated, and more towards a heuristic-based approach. With critical thinking, which is more mentally engaging and taxing, as the new emphasis, scientists and employers have begun to reevaluate the efficiency of a system popularized in a different technological era. More recently, the dawning of smartphones, email, and social media has only strengthened corporate urgency to reassess worker efficiency. A 2018 study found that between distractions and fatigue, less than three hours of a typical eight hour workday were spent on relevant tasks.

COVID-19 Effects

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the status quo in all areas of life, creating an environment ripe for post-pandemic change. Two factors of working from home in particular affected how people viewed the 40 hour work week. The first factor was isolation. In being confined to their homes away from coworkers, employees were starved of social and professional interaction, creating less work-life balance and greater fatigue. From a management perspective, the second important factor was a clean slate that was presented. As mentioned earlier, questioning of workplace standards had slowly come to a head. The transition to working from home, along with rising scientific approval, gave employers the opportunity to make drastic changes when bringing employees back to the office. The largest example of large scale change is a 2022 study, where more than 70 companies transitioned to a four day, 32 hour workweek. Results were positive, with most companies stating they would make the policy permanent after the study concluded. This study will almost certainly influence other companies to do the same.

Incentives and distractions

Modern companies have been trying new methods to increase productivity, this includes providing incentives and reducing distractions.

Providing incentives has been proven to increase efficiency in the workplace. An incentive for a specific task will help the employee focus on a specific task and increase productivity by twenty seven percent. Incentives also increase the morale of the staff, companies that have implemented incentive or reward programs have increased productivity by forty four percent. The employees' lifestyle also affects the type of incentive they should receive. Companies that are familiar with the hobbies and the type of family that their employees have makes the incentive selection easier, therefore, the productivity is increased.

Providing amenities in the workplace is an excellent example of a physical incentive. Another way to provide incentives is to give employees the option to work remotely from home. The workplace in modern society is always changing, in the last couple of years the percentage of people working remotely has increased exponentially. As of now, there are 5.7 million people working completely in the United Kingdom alone. The government can also provide incentives to increase the state's productivity. In California there is a law that has mandated the reimbursement of all the employees’ expenses that are working remotely, this includes the monthly wifi expenses.

The distractions are one of the main reasons companies lose productive time on a daily basis. The most significant distraction in the modern workplace is technological distraction, known as cyberslacking. The millennials and Gen Z-ers spend about twenty five percent of their workday on their smartphones for non-work purposes. Facebook alone takes eighty six percent of this non-productive time. The physical distractions are also a factor that reduces productivity. Working in cubicles in highly dense offices creates an environment of monotony and robot-like scenarios where the employees can get frustrated or overwhelmed. Another issue with the cubicles is the weak division of working space, the noise of fellow employees can create distractions. If the cubicles are not tall enough, visual distractions can also affect productivity. Not having enough breaks is also a major cause of unproductive work time. Overworking can cause dizziness, headaches, irritability, and even weaken the immune system. In the regular modern company, seventy percent of questioned employees admitted to be distracted at some point of the day, and sixteen percent admitted to be distracted almost all the time.

Companies usually provide work phones and emails to their employees in order to avoid technological distractions from the employees’ personal life. In addition, some companies still provide the option for their collaborators to work from home, even after the pandemic. This type of arrangement usually helps companies with crowded offices or employees that have to live far from the company facilities.

Implications

In an analysis of office productivity trends, it can be generalized that employees are pushing for more comfortable working conditions. Most workers desire options such as hybrid remote work, 32 hour work weeks and incentive programs. Employers are providing these options so as to increase productivity. However, while the data shows that productivity is generally improved by these sociotechnical transitions, some areas, such as mental health, show mixed results. On average, social norms are changing from a stricter workplace towards a more flexible environment. This change is also apparent in other areas of professional life such as the rise of casual dress in the workplace.

While the research suggests that these changes may provide a net positive to the workforce, companies must also be aware of comfort zone biases. These biases promote behavior that is comfortable rather than reasonable and may factor into the American public's general acceptance of relaxing traditional workplace standards. As the science becomes more clear and new generations enter the workforce, standards will continue to fluctuate until a new status quo is formed. The data suggests that as society evolves, so will the working environment. Companies will keep looking for ways to increase productivity, and employees will look for a better working standards.