- Recent research by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy and Research shows that fully remote workers are 10-20% lower in productivity than in-person workers.
- Fully remote is a terrible experience for most new hires and junior employees. A Paychex Survey discovered that 80% of new hires will quit if they have a poor onboarding experience.
- Blurred lines between home life and work life are also causing spikes in stress, negatively affecting the mental and physical health of remote employees.
On the flip side, fully flexible workers who self-assessed their own productivity on how they feel while working believe they are 29% MORE productive.
Like the great consulting giants, we have given you conflicting data without a definitive answer. We can be better than that. To keep ‘working-from-home’ from becoming ‘shirking-from-home’, front-line leaders must be coached/trained on taking great care of the humans on their teams. The best remote teams often have a highly skilled leader assigned to the role of “Chief of Work.” This leader’s role includes onboarding, employee engagement, culture champion, maintaining morale, project flow/momentum, and recognition.
Bottom line, Leadership really matters when building effective remote teams. Most leaders in the SMB space have had little or no training in leadership and coaching. Shirking will outweigh working, and turnover will be high if this doesn’t change.
Our upcoming Managers to Leaders Workshop trains front-line leaders on how to create a productive environment capable of conquering the learning curves of remote work.