I have not been able to stop thinking about this article from Morning Brew. In particular this part:

"In a survey released by Microsoft yesterday, only 12% of business leaders said they are fully confident that their hybrid employees are productive at work, compared to 87% of employees who say they are productive."

87% of employees feel they are productive. Only 12% of their bosses think that's true. 12%?!

We've been doing corporate wellness and stress management for four years now and time and time again we're asked to bring in our stress management workshops. Demand INCREASED for these services as more employees moved to remote work. The number one question we're asked: "How do we create on and off time with work? How do we set boundaries?"

In most cases, people are working MORE at home both to prove that they're working and because, without commutes, they have more time to do so.

According to this article, this discrepancy between leadership and employees is leading to productivity paranoia which "can result in intense virtual tracking."

I once worked a marketing job where our boss put cameras behind our backs and pointed at the computer screen to ensure we were never, ever not working. It was a fear-mongering tactic and what it managed to do was scare me half to death, dramatically increase my stress, and eventually caused me to leave the company altogether. My work quality decreased because I wasn't taking the downtime to regroup, focus, and strategize. The increased tracking didn't make me better at my job. It made me worse.

Micromanaging rarely works. If leadership is setting strategic goals, planning with their teams, and setting regular check-ins against those goals there should be zero confusion about productivity. The purpose of productivity is to PRODUCE something. Not just to keep everyone busy.

Have any of you had this experience? We want to hear from both employees and employers. Does this article resonate?

https://lnkd.in/expCBQEy

[Picture of a very young marketing version of me.]