The Work-From-Home Trust Crisis
? Richard Bliss
CEO BlissPoint | Author of DigitalFirst Leadership | International Speaker - 22 Countries | Veteran
With the rise of remote work, many companies are implementing technology to track how much work their work-from-home employees are doing.
But tracking your employee’s keystrokes and mouse movements and recording their screen is more like surveillance than an accurate measure of productivity.
This sudden rise in surveillance begs the question:
Why are we treating work-from-home employees differently than those in the office?
This level of surveillance is not typical in an office setting.
Are the keystrokes and mouse movements of employees tracked while they are in the office? Is there a camera pointed at each cubicle? Are employee's lunch breaks tracked to the minute? How often is management stopping by employee's desk to ensure they are working?
We assume our employees are working simply because they are physically at work.
And here is the irony. One of the key arguments is that the office is a social setting to create culture and camaraderie, yet this creates distractions that make it more challenging to be productive.?
Overwhelming research shows remote work model is more productive.
There are countless surveys, like the one conducted by Stanford University in the summer of 2020, that showed remote workers were 5% more productive than in-office workers.??
By the spring of 2022, the study showed remote workers were 9% more productive than in-office workers since they learned to do remote work more effectively and invested in better technology.?
领英推è
Yet despite all the evidence that remote employees are more productive, employers feel the need to? monitor only work-from-home employees with surveillance technology.
Monitoring is not the answer.
When you buy a toaster, you don’t purchase it based on how many hours it took to make it — you buy it based on the quality of the toaster. So instead of tracking exactly how long it took your employees to complete a task, measure the quality of that task.
Tracking employees’ activity on their computers will only leave them disgruntled and undermine trust, a critical factor in organizational success that, once lost, is incredibly difficult to regain.??
The root of the work-from-home trust crisis is that the traditional top-down organizational structures are not as effective for virtual teams.?
According to research in the Journal of International Management, when collaborators are separated by geography, typical approaches to leadership are not as effective.?
Instead, “shared leadership,†which involves dividing up leader responsibilities across multiple people, was more helpful for virtual teams.
The need for monitoring drops off dramatically when the ownership of the outcome is placed on the responsibility of the individual.
About the Author
Richard Bliss is the founder and president of BlissPoint, a social media consulting company that helps improve executives’ online communications and sales teams’ social selling behaviors. A LinkedIn Top Voices Influencer, experienced executive communications manager, and social media coach, Richard has helped thousands of people master social media tools and become fluent in social conversations, building their platforms and confidence to reach their audience and define their brand effectively.
Interior Designer with Sustainable Focus | Commercial & Residential I Help clients achieve peace & harmony in their spaces through design principles while also being environmentally friendly |
2 å¹´Richard Bliss what a well-written article about some challenges with #WFH. Another idea to point out is the discrepancies WFH has at some companies. Some employees are allowed to work remotely while others are not (and their duties allow them to WFH). It is crucial for leaders to uncover what drives their employees, some employees would like a flexible work environment while others may not care for it. The biggest #risk employers are facing today is.... #attrition when employees feel undervalued... Let's have #authentic #conversations with the staff we manage and #trust them to do their job.
Owner at Essential Health Systems
2 å¹´It feels like if you have clear KPI's & everyone's roles+expectations are well-defined, then individuals' contributions should be easily observed & measured. Just like in our personal relationships, if there's no trust that's a major red flag
Great stuff ? Richard. Undermining trust doesn't seem like the best path to teamwork and creating a high performing culture.
Data scientist with 17+ years of experience, seeking new and challenging opportunities to do well.
2 å¹´I remember a trainer who told me..and I agree based on my own experience as well.. that we should simply wait for some leaders to retire..it is not worth fighting some wars. Your comment reminds me of what a certain leader tried in my earlier company some years ago..he was obsessed with productivity so he started tracking how many hours each person spent at his desk, which websites he opened, etc, and started sending this data to their managers.. Needless to say the system was forgotten within 2 months of implementing. The funny thing is I see people using the same approach even now as well.. We need to learn from history and wait for some leaders to retire..