Hybrid Work and Work Abuse Concerns
Dan Ariely
I do research in behavioral economics and try to describe it in plain language. These findings have enriched my life, and my hope is that they will do the same for you.
In the discussion of how many days to work from the office and how many days to work from home, one of the topics that is often overlooked is the topic of abuse and its downstream consequences. Imagine that you work for company X and they implemented a policy of three days a week working in the office and two days a week working from home. In many ways, that sounds very promising. It gives people some time to work together in the office, saves people commuting time twice a week, and it might feel like an ideal combination. However, it's possible that some people might abuse the work-from-home days. Let's say that a small percentage, perhaps 5%, don't really work on the days when they are supposed to work from home. And imagine further that other people realize this, and they feel that it's unfair? Now, the relatively small group of people who are abusing the system is making everyone feel worse, and complaints start. Now, the management is likely to demand that everyone works from the office five days a week. This is just one case, but sadly a very common one, where a small number of bad apples make it worse for everyone. The point is that when we think about work from the office/home policy and what is the ideal combination, we also have to ask ourselves whether some people would abuse the system, and what would be the downstream consequences of this abuse. If we expect that some people will abuse the system, and others will feel bad and complain -- maybe it is a good clue that the company is not yet ready for any hybrid work environment.
How I wish human nature was a bit different with more care for each other and more attention to the long-term consequences of our actions.
领英推荐
Ethics, Compliance and Operations Executive | CFE
7 个月Our CEO insists that everyone comes in the office now. I don’t think that’s the right direction. You get far more talent from remote places. Keep an open mind.
--
1 年What is the difference between workers that abuse work from home and workers that just abuse work at office? If your company prioritise the jealous workers opinion, you already working in a company that strive for mediocrity.
CCWP - Driving Contingent Workforce Solutions for India
1 年All for one and one for all . One cheats everyone goes down . If everyone on team realizes this , has strong governance , and trusts each other the likely hood of cheating can be taken care of ?
Consultant helping Suppliers/Retailers build Brands. Executive Coach. Expert Sales Training. Hiring Workshops. Keynotes. Columnist: National Jeweler, Author of Hiring Squirrels, Sell Something, and The Sales Minute
1 年‘Showing up’ at the office should no more be seen as a proxy for productive engagement anymore than ‘working remote’ should be viewed as an opportunity to game the system. Being busy, and being visible is not an accomplishment in and of itself.
Ethics, Compliance and Operations Executive | CFE
1 年This spurs a wonderful discussion with various perspectives. I had a great remote team — very lucky. The downside of working from home was not knowing when to shut down, so one ends up putting in much longer days. Upside was flexibility and, in some cases, the opportunity to re-center yourself. Example: prepping for a hard meeting —- you can mentally check out through hand-washing dishes, walking the dog, getting laundry started. I found with myself and my team that we could balance that. Some days were much longer than anticipated, but we had those small moments to step away.