Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom In-Office Workers Are Less Productive Than Telecommuters

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom In-Office Workers Are Less Productive Than Telecommuters Ever since Marissa Mayer made her announcement that there would be no more telecommuting at Yahoo!, some people have said that Yahoo! will be loads more productive because employees will no longer be able to skirt their responsibilities and waste time at home. Now let’s have a look at what actually happens during a typical day at the office. You arrive in the morning, spend a half hour getting your coffee and chit chatting with colleagues, an hour checking your e-mail and social media accounts, and an hour in an unnecessary meeting. Then, bam, it’s lunchtime! An hour of errands is followed by another hour of busywork and another hour ofactual work. Then more chit chatting, more coffee, and more online checking. And at 5 or 6PM,you’refollowing everyone else into the elevator. The Office’s Dirty Little Secret This may be an exaggeration, but ifyou’veseen the show The Office or worked in Corporate America for more than five minutes, you get my meaning. Being in an office does not equal productivity. If anything, many people are less productive because they confuse just showing up with getting results. They figure if they spend eight hours in the building that day, thenthey’vedone their jobs. Whether their time was spent usefully and whether the organization is better off because they were in-office is irrelevant. The Miracle of Quiet On the other hand, most telecommuters are masterful at time management. They are accustomed to simultaneously balancing work responsibilities with everything else going on in their lives, and yetdon’thave to contend with the endless distractions of an office or expend 2+ stress-filled hours on a commute. And it’s quiet. So, when they sit down to work, it’s with a laser focus. Because they have to set their own deadlines and meet them without a boss’ supervision, their assignments are completed more efficiently. For more where this came from, have a look at the full post on Intuits Fast Track blog.