Procrastination during remote work and five ways to reduce it

Do employees at the home office procrastinate more?

tl;dr: Yes. But there are ways to manage this issue.

I'm a university-based psychologist, and to promote my current study, I put together a series of posts on remote working. If you find the article interesting or helpful, please consider supporting my research by completing a short anonymous survey or by forwarding the link to your colleagues:

Remote procrastination

It goes without saying that people have more opportunities to procrastinate at home compared to their "real" offices. There are plenty of reasons for this, from increased distraction to greater emotional exhaustion and a negative affect that accompanies remote work. Although the phenomenon is similar to an onsite-related one, it has a slightly different pattern. Home office-related procrastination is more about taking extended breaks than clogging up time with smaller tasks. Below, I will introduce the evidence-based point of view and describe five strategies and actions that an organization can implement to reduce remote procrastination. These strategies include job tracking, adjusting workload, improving perceived performance, social support, and promoting healthy habits.

First, it is crucial to support employees during the remote transition. People probably will struggle in the first couple of weeks in a new work mode. Also, not everyone is born to work without supervision and entirely on their own. Leaders need to have that in mind and focus on identifying early indicators of such issues. Importantly, it will be beneficial for remote workers as well. Wang et al. (2021) confirmed that the home office newcomers found monitoring their job useful, as it helped them stay on track in work and thus procrastinate less. This opinion, interestingly, changed from the pre-pandemic days, when employees thought the opposite. Leaders should then work with remote employees to determine job-monitoring procedures that suit both parties and don't feel like micromanagement. Don't ask someone at the home office every hour how they're doing; encourage them to, for example, send you a report when they decide they've finished a large chunk of work, or to call you back with a summary at the end of each day.

This next factor is closely related to the first one. We know that the workload is crucial to the discussed topic; procrastination increases when it is too low (as perceived by remote workers) (Wang et al., 2021). Thus, leaders should utilize the data collected with monitoring to decide on the amount of work for a particular person. This rational and data-based goal-setting approach is highly effective (Latham, 2015). The difference with remote work is that goals should be set with a shorter time horizon, as this will help match the workload to the remote worker's current circumstances. Importantly, this short-term goal setting will allow the remote worker to experience more often a feeling of achieving their goals and receiving positive feedback. It's a strategy for building an attitude called perceived performance. The stronger employees perceive their performance, the less they procrastinate; we have robust evidence for this claim (O'Neill et al., 2014). So, to reduce procrastination, leaders should set goals for short periods and define their difficulties based on recent work tracking information.

Social support is another factor that can reduce remote procrastination (Wang et al., 2021). It does so during the onsite job and does it very well (Bavik et al., 2020; Buunk et al., 1993; Rousseau & Aubé, 2010). Social support acts as a buffer against negative experiences and increases the employee's commitment to the company or team; the employee, in return, is willing to devote more work time to (actually) work. The thing is, support can only be provided through social interaction, and these are limited when working remotely. Even if employees somehow manage to communicate with colleagues, they report reduced interactions with leaders (Golden, 2006). Thus, leaders must keep in mind to incorporate these four elements into their daily work: to show concern and take an interest in the remote employee; to assist with the core tasks of that person; to guide on overcoming challenges; to provide regular and learning-oriented feedback. Including all of these elements in the daily communication plan with the remote worker will increase that person's perceived support, reducing procrastination.

With social support, leaders need to remember that it doesn't have to be forced or awkward for either party. It's about simple, straightforward messages that will fit the dynamic of the leader-employee relationship, such as "I know this customer is pain-in-the-neck, but you handle him very well." It does not require any training or advanced social skills typically attributed to counselors. But leaders must recognize the necessity of such messages and be consistent in delivering them.

The last point on the list may be surprising to some. Nowadays, work psychology approaches the issue of employee well-being comprehensively. We consider factors beyond work organization, such as employees' overall health. The same goes for remote procrastination. Examples of interventions that promote healthy lifestyles and exercise are described in the psychological literature, and they resulted in a tangible reduction in procrastination (Unda-López et al., 2022). Now, we know that employers can successfully promote healthy habits and exercise among employees if, and only if, they maintain regular and frequent efforts and communication in this area. A dust-collecting sports card in a wallet will not do the trick. If your company has many people in the home office and has not yet introduced such a campaign, it is high time to talk to HR about it and contemplate the strategy.

The above methods take time and effort but can be implemented in almost any business organization with little or no budget. Consider using them comprehensively and simultaneously if you want to optimize remote work in your own company. In the next post, I'll describe how an employee can set up a remote work environment to care for their well-being and results.??

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Sources:

Bavik, Y. L., Shaw, J. D., & Wang, X. H. F. (2020). Social Support: Multidisciplinary Review, Synthesis, and Future Agenda. Academy of Management Annals,?14(2), 726-758. https://doi.org/10.5465/ANNALS.2016.0148

Buunk, B. P., Doosje, B. J., Jans, L. G. J. M., & Hopstaken, L. E. M. (1993). Perceived Reciprocity, Social Support, and Stress at Work: The Role of Exchange and Communal Orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 801–811. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.4.801

Golden, T. D. (2006). The role of relationships in understanding telecommuter satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/JOB.369

Latham, G. P. (2015). Motivate Employee Performance through Goal Setting. In E. A. Locke (Ed.), Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior: Indispensable Knowledge for Evidence‐Based Management (pp. 161–178). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

O'Neill, T. A., Hambley, L. A., & Bercovich, A. (2014). Prediction of cyberslacking when employees are working away from the office. Computers in Human Behavior, 34, 291–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHB.2014.02.015

Rousseau, V., & Aubé, C. (2010). Social support at work and affective commitment to the organization: The moderating effect of job resource adequacy and ambient conditions. Journal of Social Psychology, 150(4), 321–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540903365380

Unda-López, A., Osejo-Taco, G., Vinueza-Cabezas, A., Paz, C., & Hidalgo-Andrade, P. (2022). Procrastination during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review. Behavioral Sciences 2022, Vol. 12, Page 38, 12(2), 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/BS12020038

Wang, B., Liu, Y., Qian, J., & Parker, S. K. (2021). Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective. Applied Psychology, 70(1), 16–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/APPS.12290

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