South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Remote work myths
Here are 3 scientifically proven ways to get it back
By many accounts, remote work looks promising.
At Mercer, an HR and workplace benefits consulting firm, for example, 94% of employers surveyed said that productivity was on par or higher when working remotely compared to before the pandemic.
Yet while many focus on productivity as the metric of remote work success, this clouds the true realities. If leaders don’t recognize the paradoxes and misconceptions that are at play in remote work environments, these short-term boons in productivity are likely to become longterm busts.
Here’s a look at some work-from-home myths and what you should do to correct them:
1. Productivity does not equal hours worked.
It’s easy to mistake productivity for time spent working, but a minute worked is rarely a productive minute. Recent research by Asana, where I work, found that in this remote work environment, 60% of workers’ time is spent on “work about work” — sitting in unproductive meetings, checking email and prioritizing work, for example.
Twitter’s shift to allowing most of its employees to work remotely indefinitely began with an “off-the-cuff email” from CEO Jack Dorsey that encouraged employees to work from home after he’d been “productive” doing so. Yet most senior executives have help to schedule their meetings, prioritize their time and respond to emails, as well as subordinates to search for information for them. Executives often don’t realize how much time their workers spend on “work about work” — work that employees typically don’t have the luxury of offloading to others.
So when executives look at how productive their employees have been during this past year, they often don’t consider the crippling “work about work” that impedes productivity.
To succeed post-pandemic, leaders need to commit to focus on the work that matters most. One strategy for achieving this, which is especially effective for remote teams, involves setting clear goals around your team’s most important tasks. Dr. Sahar Yousef, a cognitive neuroscientist who runs the Becoming Superhuman Lab at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, has pioneered research on daily most important task (“MIT”) setting that involves each team member committing to one to three core priorities at the start of each day.
2. Access does not equal connection.
Zoom fatigue has impacted us all this year. Most businesses have used Zoom in an attempt to replicate many in-office practices; Zooms have become surrogates for in-person meetings, quick check-ins, happy hours and more. But it’s dangerous to assume that greater access to our co-workers — through Zoom and Slack, for example — equates to increased connection. It doesn’t.
We haven’t yet found a way to meaningfully replicate the serendipitous watercooler conversations that transpire in the office. One recent study looked at the impact of those casual face-to-face interactions on performance and found that lunch meetings between two salespeople, during which they discussed sales approaches, boosted revenues for both by 24%. Clearly, these casual face-to-face interactions pack big punches that matter for the top line and should not be overlooked.
3. Less commute time does not equal more sleep.
One of the biggest boons associated with remote work is a shorter — or nonexistent
— commute. Yet we can’t assume that time saved commuting is reallocated to sleep. According to the Asana research, 26 % of workers get fewer than six hours of sleep per night.
Lack of sleep often goes hand in hand with burnout. According to Asana’s study, 7 in 10 workers experienced burnout at least once in the past year.
Sleep is the foundation of all performance. It is not a luxury but a necessity that improves the quality of every waking minute the next day.
Many are calling this shift to remote work an “experiment.” But it’s really not. This is real, and the changes leaders are making right now will leave lasting impacts on remote work practices moving forward. Only by shining light on the common misconceptions and pitfalls can leaders effectively assess whether remote or hybrid work can work for their businesses.
If you’re feeling a lack of motivation these days, you’re not alone. The COVID19 pandemic has sapped the willpower and drive of people across the nation, something psychologists say is a perfectly normal reaction. Fortunately, there are researched-backed ways to jump-start your motivation and get back on track.
Do you get to the end of the day — or worse, the week — and wonder where the heck the time went and why you don’t have more to show for it?
If this has been happening a lot lately, it’s not just you. The pandemic has disrupted work routines and workplace relationships for nearly everyone. Euphoria at the swift development of effective vaccines has turned to frustration over how long it’s taking to get those vaccines to the people who need them. Then there’s the winter weather affecting much of the country. No wonder so many of us are feeling grumpy and gloomy and unmotivated at work.
But there are several things you can do that are scientifically proven to improve your mood and get you revved up again. CNBC.com’s Cory Stieg has compiled several of them, all backed up by research. These are some of the most effective tactics to try.
1. Create rituals that lift you up, not drag you down
What do you do when you first get out of bed in the morning? When you quit work in the evening? Rituals are like habits, except that you choose them deliberately rather than just fall into them.
For example, before you start your workday, you could either spend 15 minutes on Facebook, or 10 minutes writing in your journal and another five minutes on a short meditation. Ample research has shown that spending time on Facebook can dramatically worsen your mood or even lead to depression, whereas journal-writing, depending on what you write, has a proven potential to make you feel happier. Meditation is even more of a mood-enhancer. Exercising and getting out into nature, even if it’s only a local park, are both proven ways to lift your spirits as well.
The point here is not that you should start each day with journaling and meditation. The point is that you should consider what daily habits you’re building, and choose ones that both appeal to you and will help improve your frame of mind.
2. Reward yourself
You deserve a reward. Not only that, rewards are a great motivational tool, one which you can use on yourself. Rewards work best, experts say, if they either happen during a task that you want to accomplish or right afterward. So, for example, I have a good friend I enjoy spending time with, and she recently suggested meeting for a weekly walk. Now I get the emotional benefit of spending time with someone whose company I enjoy, plus the health benefit of walking three miles.
Or you can give yourself a small reward for finishing some amount of work. For example, you’ve spent half an hour working intensely on a writing project or you’ve just finished leading a difficult meeting. Now’s the time for a few minutes of R & R, which could be playing your favorite video game, watching a video of your favorite band or shopping for an item that you really, really want. Whatever it is, it should be something you really enjoy — this is not the time to focus on self-improvement.
3. Make a connection
The pandemic has been awful in so many ways, but one of them is how much it has isolated all of us from one another. Humans have a powerful need to gather in groups — that’s pretty much hard-wired into us, and so is the need to connect with other humans, especially friends. In fact, research shows that loneliness and isolation can kill you just as quickly as smoking or obesity.
So fight that isolation by reaching out to someone you care about, someone you enjoy being with. Call them or schedule a video conversation just to catch up. Meet for an outdoor activity or a socially distanced cup of coffee. Even texting with someone you like can lift your spirits.
You may need to experiment before you find the right combination of ritual, reward, connection or other mood-boosting activities that will help you get your mojo back. That experimentation is well worth it. The ongoing pandemic and its economic effects are enough to make anyone feel hopeless and unmotivated. But with the right tools, you can fight back.