There’s a growing recognition that working from home has created a hidden but genuine fall in productivity.
While initially there was a productivity boost with the novelty of home working caused by the pandemic, that has long subsided as people get used to the flexibility and find they can reduce their commitment and application to their jobs without anyone knowing.
The Reserve Bank has now joined with leading business organisations in recognising that interest rates and prices will continue to rise unless we see a boost in productivity.
Grant Montgomery, Managing Director of the international human resources consulting firm EL Consult, puts his ideas forward on the issue of working from home.
‘And that can’t happen while large swathes of the workforce continue to work from home’ says Montgomery.
‘Anyone who has recently tried to work with a government department or bank will be able to confirm the delays and run-arounds caused by people working from home.
‘The idea of working from home saw us through the pandemic lock downs, but it’s now strangling productivity.
‘It’s time to re-think the whole strategy to ensure we’re not caught off guard by this hidden but burgeoning loss of productivity.’
Mr Montgomery has identified a long list of issues that have been swept under the carpet.
* The lack of a corporate culture.
Home workers are using up their knowledge of corporate culture and new employees don’t gain it at all.
* A loss of corporate mentoring.
People with a problem can’t consult the person in the next office for guidance. They waste a lot of time and productivity chasing their colleagues often while a client waits on the line.
* A loss of focus.
There can be too many distractions making it too easy not to not put in 100 percent effort.
Whether it’s the family pet, the children or the non- working partner.
* A loss of job security.
If the job can be done at home, then it can be done by cheaper workers overseas.
We have seen how Australian employment has been destroyed by cheap overseas workers in manufacturing can we survive it elsewhere? Already technology is replacing local call centres.
* A lack of innovation.
Innovation occurs when colleagues test ideas by bouncing ideas off each other.
*A lack of communication.
One of the biggest evils seen in people management early this century was that silos formed in large corporations with various divisions and groups working independently of each other and not communicating. This massively increased workloads as each group had to reinvent the same thing. Working from home has not only increased the silo mentality it has brought it down to each individual and made it an art form.
* Limited promotion prospects.
Working from home has limited the ability to communicate with your superior and show you are worthy of promotion. High performers are not measured and not seen.
This means the only measure is the old fashioned and public service length-of-employment measure which doesn’t bring cream to the top.
* A genuine loss of educational opportunities.
The best training has proven to be formalised training programs, face to face, at the office where the trainer recognises what the student needs and what they may or may not understand. This is not possible even if you take part of a team meeting on computer.
* Zoom meetings never tell the whole story.
Online meetings don’t show the persons response with body language indicators that are so important in many areas including response honesty and understanding.
* Workers at home can lack direction.
Employees lost in their job cannot be identified and helped quickly. If they are struggling and hiding it, the problems they are creating doesn’t often surface for months. Clients may put up with the inefficiencies for a while but will eventually move to a supplier that can support them face to face.
* Working from home can be dehumanising.
Humans are social animals and working from home is like solitary confinement especially for those that may live alone.
* There are very few efficiency measures.
Sterile measures like “calls answered” or “hours billed to clients” doesn’t talk to the productivity. Some clients take longer because their needs are more complex. The public sector doesn’t even have profitability to measure performance.
*Security risks escalate.
Working from home requires secure access to often very valuable data bases and intellectual property. If anyone can get on to the systems from home than hackers can too as the recent problems that have occurred with some of our bigger corporations have shown. Sure, security is improving but we are a long way off getting our information and security bullet proof.
Grant Montgomery says it’s time to wake up to this loss of productivity before it’s too late.
He says we must stop working from home and get back in into the office at least for a large majority of the working week.
For further comment contact Grant Montgomery directly on +612 92216688 or +614 14926688