Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg share the same ‘mindedness’ for the first time.

“Employees working remotely will be less productive.”

That was the conclusion reached by economists Dave Atkin and Antoinette Schoar at MIT and Sumit Shinde at UCLA after they observed how data entry clerks in Chennai (India) worked. These people assigned to work from home are up to 18% less productive than employees who come to the office and work in person. The difference in productivity is easily noticeable from the first day of work.

According to Atkin, Schoar and Shinde, the reason is because people working at home have many intermittent concerns, such as looking after children and taking care of the elderly – tasks that take up most of the day.

Previously, Wall Street billionaires also steadfastly maintained the view that only working directly can increase productivity and team spirit. Elon Musk is afraid of workers “pretending to work”; Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman fears productivity will be affected, while Mark Zuckerberg believes that new employees need to work in person three days a week to improve relationships.

“Anyone who wants to work remotely will have to be in the office at least 40 hours a week, or else they will have to leave Tesla. This is less than the required number of hours for factory workers,” billionaire Elon Musk announced and emphasized that senior managers must also appear regularly. “That’s why I spend a lot of time at the factory, otherwise Tesla would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.”

Opposing this view, remote workers mostly affirm that they work better and more effectively in the environment they create. The number of working hours is also definitely more than when going to the office.

However, recent data shows that employees working from home are the most distracted. The level of distraction will vary based on differences in home size or access to childcare.

The above results do not mean that workers need to go to the office to work directly immediately. The above is just a study based on workers living in Chennai, with completely different cultural and management norms. In developing countries, small, cramped and noisy houses are the factors that distract people and reduce productivity.

It is known that to reach the above conclusion, Atkin, Schoar and Shinde intentionally chose to observe jobs that did not require teamwork. “We think this result is most applicable to low-skill job settings,” Atkin said.

Despite the benefits of in-person work, many employees still choose to work remotely instead of coming into the office. “To know whether such choices are truly optimal, we need to understand their preferences and the nature of the constraints that lead them to make these decisions,” Atkin added.

People who work from home have a lot of interruptions to worry about

This is not surprising because we can hardly deny the benefits that remote working brings.

1. Working remotely is just as effective, if not more so

Work efficiency is the main way to evaluate employee productivity. When working remotely, employees must still ensure that they perform the same work as when working in the office.

Companies can easily monitor employees if they set deadlines or monitor them through a computer screen. One study found that productivity increased by 13% when employees worked remotely 1 day/week.

The pandemic made remote working possible. Daily communication becomes unnecessary in many cases. According to Bloomberg research, 39% of adults would quit their job if their company did not support remote working.

2. Working remotely reduces negative impact on the environment.

Working remotely helps reduce environmental impact. One of the biggest polluters worldwide is vehicles, which emit 4.6 tons of carbon emissions each year. Reducing the number of employees on the road means businesses are joining society in shifting to more sustainable practices. According to evidence from Earth.org, global businesses such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook have committed to being carbon neutral by 2050.

3. Communication is still effective when working remotely

Online meetings have the same effectiveness as face-to-face meetings, and are even more accessible.

It is estimated that by 2024, only 25% of meetings will be held in person. The increase in the number of daily meetings on Zoom from 10 million to 300 million as of April 2020 clearly shows the trend.

4. Remote employees will be happier and more engaged.

According to Owl Labs, remote working can improve employee performance, helping companies increase employee retention and retention. Accordingly, workers feel happy and have a good work-life balance.

Obviously, they are well aware that they are qualified and capable, so they demand more opportunities to work remotely. If they are not listened to, they will quit their job to find a suitable destination.