Remote work disconnect causes employers ‘productivity paranoia’

While the vast majority of remote employees seems satisfied with their work output, their employers are still not sure if their staff are productive while working away from the office. 

In a survey conducted by tech giant Microsoft, 85% of business leaders admitted to having a “hard time knowing for sure that their people are being productive.” 

Yet, 87% of staffers said that their productivity is just fine whether working remotely or hybrid. 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said concerns about work rate was causing company bosses to have “productivity paranoia.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Nadella stated, “Leaders think their employees are not productive, whereas employees think they are being productive and in many cases even feel burnout.”

“One of the most important things for us in this new world of work and hybrid work is to bridge this paradox.”

This comes as the tech giant received massive backlash over its now-defunct Productivity Score feature in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. 

Launched at the height of COVID-19 and remote working, the tool is used by employers to track individual-level employee data via metrics such as meeting, emails, etc.

Microsoft 365 Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro said that they have learned a lot from the backlash.

The VP emphasized that the world of work has changed and there’s no going back to how it was pre-pandemic. 

Sure, business leaders still “crave the familiarity” of the traditional office setup. But this will not endear companies to their employees. In fact, this may cause a wider disconnect between the execs and the workers. 

To help employers solve this dilemma, Microsoft created another app called Viva Pulse. The firm explained that this app lets managers get regular and confidential feedback from staff on their team’s “experience.”

So, instead of relying on so many productivity tools and metrics, the tech firm is now encouraging leaders to listen to their staff and their experiences while working away from the office. 

Besides, as what we’ve seen these past few months, cornering employees into stricters rules would only result into more people lining up on the company’s exit gates. 

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