Forbes has an interesting article that, to mix a metaphor, puts another stake through the heart of the Zombie that is the notion remote work is somehow harmful to productivity and the bottom line. It’s an idea that refuses to die. Yet every time research with actual data—rather than apocryphal, “gut feelings” of CEOs and micromanagers—is brought to bear, the results always put the lie to it.
Last month, I wrote about some data driven research that showed, in fact, that remote workers were MORE productive than their office bound colleagues. As I wrote then, it pays to look at the data rather than depending on the intuition of so called experts. The Forbes article looks at research that shows the revenue growth of companies that have “fully flexible” remote work policies was 16% greater than companies with more restrictive policies. Even when tech companies are eliminated from consideration, the fully flexible enterprises enjoyed a 13% greater increase in revenue growth. Those are astounding results.
Of course, correlation is not the same as causality and my first thought was that maybe the results are more reflective of the companies’ treatment of their employees rather than remote work itself. The Forbes article considers the same possibility but notes that the results do counter the commonly held belief that companies that insist their employees be on-site perform better because of water coolers and stuff.
Whether you like or agree with the findings, they do provide additional real evidence that’s based on more than some bosses’ gut feelings about the issue. The Forbes article is another great resource for those who have input to management’s thoughts on this issue.