Productivity Shutdown

Productivity shutdown. New year, new lockdown. The duvet desk has once again become the workplace for the masses. Welcomed by some, for others it brings with it its own pitfalls. From February 2019 to December 2019 there were 1,554 articles mentioning “employee” and “burnout” compared to 2,267 for the period February 2020 to December 2020 – an increase of nearly 70 per cent.

What are they talking about? Discussion is dominated by practical solutions about how best leaders and organisations can boost employees’ productivity while also avoiding burnout. The pandemic has already transformed work routines, but some commentators believe that the goal of high productivity depends on maintaining aspects of this new routine to avoid a move away from the mundane.

Work hours. Several commentators observe that the move to remote working has shaved off the least productive parts of the working day, including commuting and ‘unnecessary’ meetings, to replace the typical 9am to 5pm with flexible working. Some have called for a shorter working week to enhance worker flexibility. One of the most prominent voices is Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Shorter: How Working Less Will Revolutionise the Way Your Company Gets Things Done. In his interview featured in the Financial Times last year, he argues that downtime from work is essential to allow your creative subconscious time to mentally map out problems experienced at work, and is also essential to allow workers to get exercise and organise their life admin. He outlines how relaxation has been stigmatised by some companies at the expense of maximising productivity. This is echoed by Harvard’s Professor of Leadership Leslie Perlow who argues that time away from work cultivates a long-term productive work ethic.

Wellbeing. Practical measures to ensure the wellbeing of workers during another lockdown when social interaction in offices is not available has also featured heavily. One notable article by Laura Mae Martin, Google’s Executive Productivity advisor published in CNN Business examines traditional ways companies can encourage employees to stay healthy, avoid burnout, while also enhancing productivity. She also argues that work hours are a key part of restoring wellbeing to employee lifestyles, alongside moving away from the standard 9am to 5pm timetable and replacing it with one tailored to individual needs. In a related article in TALiNT International, Simon Adcock elaborates on Martin’s findings with a study that found 20 per cent of employees cited a poor work-life balance as a reason for leaving their jobs, and that less than one third of all UK businesses offer flexible working hours. Both Adcock and Martin agree that a healthy work-life balance is a vital step to improving and maintaining productivity in the workplace.

Collaborative Productivity. An explanation for why only one third of companies have adopted these radical new workplace solutions is that employees do not enjoy a close relationship with their employers, or fear the stigma attached to their request for more flexible working routines. In an article for Diginomica, Ujjwal Singh, Head of Product at Workplace from Facebook believes companies ought to both strive to bring desk-based colleagues in closer contact with company leaders for ‘collaborative productivity’ to ensue, while also allowing for mixed-mode workings which transcend remote and office-based work. Writing in Harvard Business Review, Ryan Fuller, who leads the Workplace Analytics and MyAnalytics product teams within Microsoft has endorsed this approach. He argues productivity depends on workers understanding what their work is contributing to and who for. This can be achieved by bringing them into dialogue with senior leaders in the company. Eventually, both Singh and Fuller believe, the goal of acknowledging and valuing all workers will be met, while fulfilling high productivity levels.

Flexibility is essential. The FT’s Andrew Hill agrees that in a remote working environment the dangers of ‘toxic productivity’ become heightened. Employees can be left feeling stranded and guilty for not working harder, unbalancing their work-life medium, and leading to burnout.

Effective Feedback. As I wrote last year for theHRDirector in an article titled: ‘COVID-19 and remote working: beware the ‘Temple of Zoom’, effective feedback is also critical to combatting over communication and ensuring collaborative teamwork in a remote working environment. In a bid to compensate for the loss of day-to-day office interaction managers will respond with the widespread embrace of videoconferencing platforms, such as Zoom, and online team collaboration tools like Slack. Momentary informal discussions in the office have escalated into regular, lengthy video seminars. Communication then overloads and productivity slumps.

A key challenge is how to provide remote workers with an effective facility through which they can receive feedback and measure their cooperation with co-workers.

Technology, through the use of effective feedback platforms, offers one solution. By providing team members with a platform through which they can individually and as a team receive and offer real-time feedback, in the form of performance ratings and constructive suggestions for improvement are an essential tool. Online real-time feedback platforms that deliver easily digestible performance trackers for individual and team performance, offer the facility to boost productivity, encourage effective team working and reduce staff burnout – both in and out of lockdown.