ARE REMOTE WORKERS more productive and happy? Depends on whom you ask, apparently.
According to the Nintex Workplace 2021 Study, a majority (67%) of U.S. workers say they are more productive at home than they expected.
It’s a slightly different story when asked about collaboration, according to a study from Unify Square, a monitoring and management software and services provider for collaboration platforms. The survey finds efficiency differences across job levels, with 44% of owners, executives, and C-levels saying remote team collaboration is much more efficient, while only 11% of senior management feel that way.
Maybe that’s due to distractions during conference calls such as pets (48%), someone walking through the background (33%), contract workers (27%), children (26%), and more. Some Unify respondents (22% of those 65 and older) have even resorted to taking calls from quieter places like a closet, the car, or the bathroom.
Stress level differs too, with 61% of tech workers and 63% of C-level professionals saying it’s risen for them, but just 34% of entry-level employees admitting to increased stress, according to the Unify study. And while 49% of Nintex respondents say they are less happy now, they attribute it to coronavirus-related issues rather than remote work.
As such, working permanently from home is appealing to 51% of the Nintex respondents, who indicate they could be more productive with a more flexible work schedule (49%), better hardware (44%), and automation software (37%).
If that’s the case, channel pros could have a continuing opportunity getting home offices up to corporate standards, as both employees and employers cite that as a challenge in the Unify survey. However, who pays for it remains up for grabs. Indeed, over half of enterprise workers focusing on IT or security have had to purchase new equipment or hardware for home setups, according to Unify, yet only 12% report that their employer helped with or fully covered the expense.
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