Stay Productive While Working From Home
“While home-bound employees still “clock in” for an 8-hour workday, they usually average about 3 hours of “real work” on any given day.” This is for a number of reasons including multiple areas of their lives needing them at once (for example, work and kids), increased distractions (noises in the next room, pets, kids, phone calls and doorbell rings), and stress. (And, let’s be honest: our workers are not 100% productive when they are in the office either!)
This is a great article on working from home (especially with kids and/or a spouse around). It is LONG, but you can skim it for one or two things to try at a time.
In addition to thinking about working from home and how to do so more efficiently and productively, I also wonder what we can take away from this strange time for the longer-term: I’d love for one outcome of this stay at home period to be reduced work hours and increased home time – with family, with friends, with hobbies.
What if businesses only expected their people to work 35-40 hours a week? (And what if they actually hired enough people for that to be possible and still get everything done that needs to be done.) Does it help to know the research shows productivity for manual labor maxes out around 40 hours a week? And, for intellectual labor, it maxes out even sooner!
Would people accept pay cuts in order to have a better quality/balance of life?
Could we move away from the material measures of worth/value and “success” such that people spread their focus to more than just one or two aspects of their lives? Would we feel more fulfilled and well-rounded? Would we be more resilient and happier?