A new study shows that a large proportion of remote workers feel compelled to stay online to show their presence, even if they have already finished their work.
Even when working remotely, bad office habits seem to die hard if this new study is to be believed. Many employees engage in “digital presenteeism,” even if it comes at the cost of reduced efficiency.
No, working from home has not changed everything
After the implementation of forced telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, some companies have chosen to keep this organization of work. Others prefer a hybrid model where employees are in the office part of the week and at home the other days.
It was thought that working from home would put an end to the “presenteeism” of showing superiors and colleagues how productive we are because we stay in the workplace for a long time. An absurd shortcut that is unfortunately commonplace in many companies.
Teleworking offers greater flexibility in working hours which allows everyone to organize their working time as they see fit. Unfortunately, a new study from software vendors Qatalog and GitLab shows the exact opposite. Indeed, teleworkers would continue to apply traditional office hours, to the detriment of their productivity.
More than one hour per day lost on average
The survey conducted in the UK and the US was carried out on 2000 “knowledge workers”. These are employees “whose job is to develop and use back-office knowledge rather than produce goods or services. » (Source : Wikipedia). The study reveals that we tend to fall back into old habits despite the unique opportunity we had to rethink the way we work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Remote workers continue to join video conferences in which they have little to do or answer their emails at strategic times of the day to convince their colleagues that they are still at work. According to the study, this type of behavior consumes an average of 67 minutes in a worker’s day.
The companies behind the study are strong advocates of telecommuting and an asynchronous mode of operation. This involves letting workers manage their tasks on their own schedule, as long as it doesn’t slow down the progress of ongoing projects for other team members.
54% of participants also say that their colleagues are stuck in old habits and 63% believe that the management of their company prefers a traditional culture with employees in the office. Additionally, the report says that when they’re out of the office, presenting themselves as “online” is seen as the best thing to do.
A vision that the workers interviewed do not share:
« An overwhelming majority of people (81%) believe they are more productive and create a higher quality output when they have more flexibility in their work. »
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