If you think you’re more productive when you’re working from home, could you just be kidding yourself?
Now, before you start having a pop, there are no accusations here. But you’d be amazed how many conversations take place when someone’s guard is down, where they admit to skiving off when they should be working from home.
“My flight doesn’t get back to the UK until 2 AM. It’s ok because I’m working from home tomorrow, so I can log on then go back to sleep for a few hours.”
“I can do my shopping in the day, so I don’t have to do it on Saturday. I just rest my phone on the spacebar, so it looks like I’m working.”
“I’m working until 5 but I’ll have the golf on and a beer open so it’s nothing too taxing for a Friday afternoon.”
All genuine conversations – and hundreds more that have been overheard over the last few years.
The Productivity Diet
What if productivity is like dieting? Have you ever watched the weight-loss programmes on the TV where they get them to keep a food diary and when people look back at what they’ve eaten over the course of a month they’re shocked?
Do you think the same thing could be true with how productive people are when they are working from home?
We’ve all heard the cliche’s on LinkedIn: “I no longer need to spend two hours a day commuting so I’m more productive.” But how does an extra hour in bed in the morning and an extra hour watching soaps in the evening make you more productive?
What about, “I can do some chores during my lunch to save me doing housework on a Saturday. That means I come back more refreshed and productive after the weekend”… Seriously?
The Impact?
You only have to skive-off one day a month and that’s your productivity taking a 5% hit, and that’s before you add in the late starts, long lunches and TV-on-in-the-background days.
Self-starters are a rare breed, recent reports suggest they make up only 10% of workers, so don’t beat yourself up if this isn’t you. But recognising there is an issue is the first step to improvement, so if you feel you’re productivity could be better, but you’re still ambitious about where your career can go, perhaps more time in the office might not be a bad thing after all?
