Support, don't micromanage, say researchers who find WFH made some of us neurotic
- Reference: 1718094609
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/11/wfh_and_neuroticism/
- Source link:
Study finds a quarter of bosses hoped RTO would make employees quit [1]READ MORE
Or so says research undertaken by the King's Business School and Norwich Business School, which found feelings of lower empowerment, as well as decreased perceptions of job satisfaction and overall well being. The study involved 337 people who were polled during lockdown.
Empowerment refers to the staff member's sense of control, competence, and autonomy at work. Those getting better support from their employer felt more able to take decisions on their own and voiced generally better states of emotional welfare.
Back in 2020 amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the sudden switch for remote working "intensified feelings of anxiety and stress for workers with higher level of neuroticism, with a potential lack of preparedness for the WFH environment exacerbating emotional instability."
The researchers are at pains to point out that more substantial support should not be misinterpreted for "increasing oversight by managers," and noted that those bosses who closely monitor their team "inevitably [made] those employees feel less empowered".
[2]
"If employees feel that their organization supports and empowers them to get on with their job in the context of a sudden change, then those employees are more likely to experience increased well-being," said research author Duncan Jackson, reader of organizational psychology & human resource management at King's Business School.
[3]
[4]
Microsoft previously highlighted that some managers suffer from so-called [5]productivity paranoia , meaning if they can't see workers physically they are not sure they're working effectively.
Just last month, research [6]indicated that HR folk are worried that return to office mandates are leading to higher staff attrition rates, something [7]analysts warned about during the pandemic. Employees have grown accustomed to the flexibility of mixing up where they work and now demand this.
[8]
According to Jackson at King's Business School, corporations must demonstrate support for their workforce and "not just pay lip service to the idea of support."
"Managers need to remove any hint of micromanagement, pressure, and surveillance over employees when they're working remotely. By showing that employees are trusted to manage their work activities, organizations and managers can develop an empowering environment conducive to well-being."
Staff employing higher level of empowerment reported that this positively reinforced their mental wellbeing.
[9]
"Our findings clearly show that, in general, organizations should empower remote working employees if they want to protect their well-being and prevent them from seeking an alternative job," said Amanda Jones, associate professor in organizational behaviour and human resource management at King's Business School.
[10]When it comes to working from home, Register readers are bucking national trends
[11]'Return to Office' declared dead
[12]Dropbox drops bucks to ditch digs in long-term WFH model
[13]Look, boss – Nvidia's still cool with staff working from home
"However, we can also see that a 'one size fits all' approach to managing remote workers may be a mistake. Some people will require much more structure and direction than others, especially where remote working is a requirement, rather than a choice."
With more and more tech companies – from [14]Dell , [15]Google , [16]and AWS , to [17]Meta , Workday, [18]IBM and many, many more – demanding their employees spend at least part of the time working from the office, they may do well to ensure they correctly support their staff all the time.
Out of sight should not be out of mind. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/09/rto_quit_study/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZmggQnbrcmxIEr7ctGaxegAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZmggQnbrcmxIEr7ctGaxegAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZmggQnbrcmxIEr7ctGaxegAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/hr_say_biz_leaders_scared_rto/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/21/proximity_bias_workforce_productivity/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZmggQnbrcmxIEr7ctGaxegAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZmggQnbrcmxIEr7ctGaxegAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/05/register_working_from_home_survey/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/03/return_to_office/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/23/dropbox_shrinks_hq/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/16/nvidia_working_from_home/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/16/return_to_office/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/16/return_to_office/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/15/amazon_in_person_mandate/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/27/meta_coughs_181m_to_exit/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/11/ibm_software_tells_workers_to/
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"Managers need to remove any hint of micromanagement, pressure, and surveillance"
Yeah, like that's going to happen.
And 337 people ? A valid effort, but I'm not sure that it is a representative sample. I thought you needed 2000 to have a valid statistical basis for analysis.
Doesn't matter. I'll just file this in the "nice to know, will be talked about, won't have any effect" folder.
Wow!!
" Those getting better support from their employer felt more able to take decisions on their own and voiced generally better states of emotional welfare "
I'd never have guessed! So it took two business schools working collaboratively together to find this out?
My situation is different
I'm a freelance consultant. Thanks to COVID, 75% of my work is now Work From Office, my office. I have some customers where I do have to go on-site, but since COVID that is a clear minority.
And I'm fine with that. I get to commute less, I waste no time in useless banter and, when the job is done, I go home. There is no manager telling me it's not yet time because I'm the manager and when I say it's time, it's time.
Of course, I'm also in charge of getting my customers to pay my bills, but thankfully that is not much of problem since I eliminated the customers that took me 90% of my time just to get paid.
That said, I do count myself as lucky. Not everyone can do this job, and in my little niche I am quite privileged. It'll do me nicely until I retire in about a decade.
link to actual report
The actual report is here:
(abstract and source of paper: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/well-being-and-empowerment-perceptions-in-a-sudden-shift-to-worki )
https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/257409864/Jackson_et_al._202x_ACCEPTED.pdf
for those that care to read it.. and not waste time looking for it.
Varies by individual
WFH has less distractions / interruptions so you can be far more productive & control your day better e.g. I start well before my official start time so can then have a few breaks in the day (as 100% focused coding all day is draining), so do the allotted hours (& usually a bit more) but with healthy breaks (and also far fresher without stressful commute), but some people like the social environment of an office.
If I get mandated to do x days a week in the office I will be looking for a new role (and if no remote ones available, retiring early*), and on the days I am in the office my productivity will fall massively due to all the chat interruptions.
* Mainly working to build up savings for retirement, could retire now but extra savings good to allow for more freedom to do stuff when retired (as cost of living shooting up) - and to cover unexpected situations when retired e.g. with how UK NHS has been destroyed by conservative government then sadly private medical services may be only option for quality of life operations with massive NHS waiting lists (e.g. artificial joints)