Can people be as productive working from home as they are at the office?

The following research is going to state whether people can be as effective in the
workforce by working at home rather than going to a physical office. A Lot of evidence
taken into account for this research is during the years of 2019 to 2022, as a result of
the pandemic break out and a surge in the trend of working from home.

Research done on over 16,000 employees over a the period of late 2021 and 2022
states that working at home has shown a general upwards trend in terms of productivity,
with some research even showing that there can be an increase in productivity to up to
77% more than that of would could be achieved by working in a conventional office.
(Apollo Technical LLC, 2022)

There are a couple of main factors which can show us why there is a for sure increase
in productivity by working from home. These factors can be broken down into smaller
components, firstly, there are less physical obstruction and distraction. A study from
standard done in 2019 shows that employees would spend a considerable amount of
their work time on things like commute, where survey reports show that on average 8.5
hours a week and 408 hours per year is saved by not commuting to work. The other
thing is that as there are no more physical coworkers present, it is less likely for people
to just be distracted. Secondly, there are personal benefits for the employees such as
improved happiness, better work-life experience, less stress and a better work space
area. These are a big contributors towards increased productivity as all of these factors
could motivate a person to dedicate more for their time on doing their task. (J Occup
Environ Med. 2021)

Research done by Dr Dean Burnetter in the topic of productivity shows us that the
concept on “happiness of employee” is used by the companies and firms to make
people more productive as they can be. As there was a sudden rise in ‘work from home
method’, there were numerous reports of hoe people are getting a better life experience
due to it and that is why the initial response -within the first couple of years where there
was no other option than work from home due to the ongoing pandemic- has been very
positive. But us as human beings are prone to have human interaction to different
people around us and going and meeting people at an office front id one of the biggest
way of physical human interaction in our current world, and by taking that away, we are
affecting the happiness of people and hence their productivity.

In conclusion, work from home does increase the productivity of a person but there are
certain intangibles which are connected to work place and the lack of those could in the
long run affect the productivity of the person
Bibliography

Surprising working from Home Productivity Statistics (2022) (2022) Apollo

Technical LLC. Available at: https://www.apollotechnical.com/working-from-home-
productivity-statistics/#:~:text=Several%20studies%20over%20the%20past,and
%20are%2047%25%20more%20productive (Accessed: November 2, 2022). 

Xiao Y, Becerik-Gerber B, Lucas G, Roll SC. Impacts of Working From Home

During COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical and Mental Well-Being of Office
Workstation Users. J Occup Environ Med. 2021 Mar 1;63(3):181-190. doi:
10.1097/JOM.0000000000002097. PMID: 33234875; PMCID: PMC7934324.

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