For many office workers, tasks pile up on the desk. A study shows that many employees have very clear ideas about how they could work better and more productively.
The mailbox is overflowing. Dozens of e-mails are still unread. And the meeting is followed directly by a zoom switch. Then there is a complicated round of voting with another team. In German offices, this is part of everyday life in many places – the meeting time in particular is largely not considered to be very useful. In an international study by the chat provider Slack published on Tuesday, respondents in Germany stated on average that they saw just over half of their meetings (53.4 percent) as “good use of working time”. 36.5 percent of the meetings were classified as unnecessary.
When asked “I feel productive at work most days,” many respondents “somewhat” (47 percent) or “a lot” (29 percent) agreed. But here, too, more than a third (36 percent) named too many meetings and too many emails as disruptive factors. The 2032 respondents from Germany also said that they wasted a third of their working time or at least did not use it wisely. They said they spend an average of 30 percent of their time on tasks that “do not directly contribute to company/team goals.”
More than 18,000 people worldwide were interviewed for the study, most of them working in offices. The majority of those surveyed from Germany are people who work in middle (22 percent) or upper management (10 percent) or in executive management (7 percent). 23 percent of those surveyed were classified as “office workers”, meaning analysts or graphic designers, among others.
Higher productivity in the home office?
Many office employees see home office or mobile working as a possible improvement in their productivity. 69 percent of those surveyed in Germany said that being able to work from anywhere would increase their productivity “a little” (35 percent) or “significantly” (34 percent). Many respondents also see advantages beyond the home office through more flexibility, for example with working hours.
However, the subjective assessment and the actual productivity can differ greatly, labor market expert Ulf Rinne points out: “How productively it is possible to work from home is actually a very exciting scientific question, because there is no clear answer – at least so far .”
“The question also arises to what extent the subjective assessment of productivity in the home office is limited to the work area alone,” said Rinne. “I think that the thought often resonates in the back of my mind: “I can also do a lot of things on the side that I could only do after work before.” This could have a positive influence on the subjective assessment of productivity in the home office – even if it is are not actually tasks within the scope of the job.
Companies rely on hybrid forms of work
Productivity is influenced by many factors: the time and resources that have to be spent on communication and collaboration or distraction are just a few examples. “The personality of the employees also has an effect on productivity in the home office. For example, particularly conscientious employees in the home office are not only more productive, but also require less guidance and control from their superiors in the home office,” says the expert from the institute on the future of work .
In his view, both productivity and the associated job satisfaction benefit from individual home office solutions. “These solutions must take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the operational processes, but should also take into account the individual needs, preferences and personalities of the workforce,” says Rinne.
It is no coincidence that many companies are already moving towards hybrid forms of work and in some cases are trying to find individual solutions for employees: “This is often accompanied by specific requirements, such as being present in the company on certain days, in order to improve internal communication in particular .”
Source: Stern
