Has remote working made anyone a little less productive than before? (working in an office)

Hi Utkarsh, This is such a common theme these days. Thank you for voicing it on this platform so we can all hash it out. My take: Accountability from other people helps a lot. Dominican University proved that people in their study were 76% more successful than baseline when they wrote down their goals AND gave a weekly update to an accountability partner. They set up 5 groups: Group 1: Were asked to think about their goals Group 2: Were asked to write their goals into an online survey and then rate their goals Group 3: Same as G2, plus asked to form action commitments Group 4: Same as G2 and G3, plus asked to send their goals and action commitments to a supportive friend Group 5: Same as G2, G3, and G4, plus send a weekly written progress report to that supportive friend. Group 5 seems like a lot of work....but the result was this group accomplished significantly more than. all other groups, even G4. G5 had a 76% success rate, while G1 had just a 43% success rate. The psych professor that designed and ran the study says that it provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of accountability, commitment, and writing down one's goals. She also added that the final step in G5 of reporting their progress gave that group the additional and statistically significant success boost. I have links from the study and from Inc. Magazine where it was reported if you'd like. I didn't want to jam them in here and presume. On a personal and professional note: productivity fascinates me. I've been working in the field since my days in the US Army believe it or not, starting back in 1995. Took several courses with The Juran Institute (Dr. Joe Juran was a colleague of Edwards Deming, both of whom helped to rebuild Japanese industry in the post-WW2 era.) Now I am nurturing my own community for people who want that accountability from other professionals and entrepreneurs (especially solopreneurs) across the globe. I hope to keep the conversation going, and I especially hope my response was helpful in some way to you Utkarsh. All the best, Brian

I think change improves productivity, be it more money, a new project, a new job, or a new working environment. But when we get used to it, productivity returns to normal. You could try different co-working spaces, a week where you shift your working day by a few hours and do something different in the morning

It's important to have very similar routines for a home office day as for an office day. Dress up in similar clothes, maybe go for a morning walk, and when the work starts, preferably work from a different location where you're usually at. Try to avoid housework (cleaning, clothes washing...) during office hours. And most of all, schedule informal coffee breaks or talks with colleagues, as you'd bump into others in a physical setup.

I don't think its its easily comparable. Here are some personal anecdotes Some days I find myself really productive in a co-working space. This is when I can get the majority of mindless tasks done, especially if the atmosphere is quiet and intense (think library). Otherdays I find it hard to work in an "office" setting, I'm distracted because there are other things on my mind. Sometimes the best way forward is a break from things and I can't do it well at an office. When I'm at home, there are days where I don't feel productive. It could be a function of the distractions I have at home, or a mental block. What is undeniable for me is I can always overcome a mental block by completing some other task such as going to the gym, doing laundry, cleaning something etc. That's what I think is great about remote work. TL;DR I think productivity is more a function of the work you have than the environment you're in. Sometimes you're stuck and need to do something else; I find running errands / doing chores help in this.

I remember when I started homeschooling. I felt I needed to buy those little chairs they have in elementary school, and a blackboard! Needless to say, none of that mattered. I learned home schooling is a lifestyle. Remote working is the same way. It’s not about replicating your office at home. It’s about finding a new way to work beginning with how you think about work and how you approach it. This is a great question because working remote is a great opportunity to rethink productivity. I’ve found that clients can get 90% of work done in 3 to 4 hours a day. Interestingly, the biggest challenge for many is not to roll out of bed and open their laptop. Also, most struggle to stop working at a certain time. I’ve been experimenting a lot with this. Currently I work four days a week, Mondays and 7th weeks off. I go to a coworking center one of those days. What helped me most: (1) Getting clear about what actually matters and moves the needle (2) Setting goals and anti goals (3) Blocking out time to work (fixed schedule productivity) (4) Developing a consistent morning routine to be at my best (5) Stopping work at a certain time (6) Reviewing my day, making notes, and setting priorities for the next day (I call this “The Super Habit”) Hope this helps.

I work out of both home and office. When I work from home I've found it's helpful to remove anything that's non-work related from the room (or space you're working in). Additionally, it's helpful to sometimes step away and clear your head. In those times I take a walk to get out of the house, otherwise there's too many distractions.

+ sitting in silence at home saving my time to get to work - a lil bit harder to start at the same time, cause you don't have to hurry for the transport

Hey Utkarsh, I think this is something many of us can relate to. I have been working from home for a few months now and I have been trying all these different "hacks" to increase my productivity. The one that worked the best for me so far is something called "temptation bundling" where I bundle a task that I need to do with a reward of my choice(mostly its cake) I am currently working with Journey, an app that aims to improve your productivity with a mindful approach. It helps you stay focused on what is important in a more human way. Feel free to check it out(we are offering early access): jrny.coach

What helped me is 1. Dedicated place where no one can bother me 2. Discipline and focused work time when I do the most important task of the day 3. Allowing myself to rest as sometimes I found myself sitting for 8-10 hours per day and wasting a lot of that time. Once I started planning time for rest is when I started to accomplish more. I'm trying to come to the office from time to time anyway :)

I've worked remotely for a while. Here's what works for me: (tl;dr: replace your commute with walks, stand/sit, use the Pomodoro technique) 1. Replace your daily commute with walks: at the time you normally leave for work, go for a walk that is either as long as your commute, or at least 20-30 minutes. I also take a "commute" proxy walk at the end of the day, too – the ritual helps my mind relax and let go of the day's stress 2. Try to get out of the house to work in a different environment if possible. I had a rule that I'd leave the house by 1 pm every day to work at the cafe around the corner. I know this doesn't work for everyone (and COVID made this impossible) but I find the scenery change helps my focus. 3. I use a standing desk and switch between sitting and standing throughout the day. 4. When I'm trying to focus on a single project, I use the Pomodoro technique to help break my work into smaller chunks. It's a lot easier to convince myself to stay focused for 25 minutes than for an unknown length of time 5. We have a local office that I drop in on occasion – once or twice a month. It's probably a placebo, but I find going into the office resets my work-from-home brain. 6. I leverage single-tasking a lot, but also try to clear very short tasks (10 minutes or less) when they arise. I check Slack no more than once an hour – I know if someone really needs me they'll @-me.

I've noticed that after 6 p.m. it's easier and quieter to work, because the number of phone calls and the amount of urgent work finally decreases. Sometimes this is the time when I get a "workaholic" attack, and I take advantage of these moments, doing the same amount of work in three or four hours that I could normally do for three days. Plus in the evenings there's that idiotic feeling of, "Now I'm working because I decided to, not because I have to." The same thing happens on the weekends.

Hi, I am based out of Hyderabad, and I definitely agree with you. WFH productivity just went down with time. Even we are using Wework space 2 days a week and see improvements in our turnaround times. Also people are more accountable when in office.

Yes, may be you can say. But if we set a place for our office in our home. Get up early in the morning like we have to go to office. Take well dress and sit on your working area place like you are working in office.

Doing the same activities, living in the same environment, or working in the same space leads to adaptation and flattening. Changing is the key to constantly getting motivation in our lives, including productivity at work or in any other area, like sports or hobbies, etc. If tomorrow you start earning 100k per month, you'll be extremely excited, right? Well, after some months, you will be used to that amount of money, and it will not appear special anymore. The same examples apply to any other habit, e.g. if you work on a beautiful beach every day, after a certain period it won't be special anymore. Balancing is one of the approaches and solutions to mitigate accustoming, for example with regards to the work environment, having two days at the office and the others at the home office, could be good, but of course, it depends on your specific needs and preferences. And also I'm strongly convinced that productivity is heavily driven by the motivation and the interest that we have in a topic, task, job, activity, etc. Surely having the right working environment set up, productivity tools, time optimization, and correct scheduling is very important; however, being focused and really committed is what motivates us to work and get the best results, it's what does spike our dopamine and our willingness to move forward.

Sometimes I feel I must go to the office. Helps to keep my productivity high. Some silent and cozy cafe works well to.

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The entire company works remotely. Some simply prefer such a system of work more or less

Not really but it did require a few adjustments. At the end of the day, you need to understand that work is work and be disciplined enough to keep showing up. Having a room I use as an office helped a ton - just coming here puts me in a productive mode.