Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has brought his point of view into the discussion about whether remote working leads to more or less productivity, explaining that it is some bosses who are skeptical about working from home, not employees. He also gave reasons why they are wrong.
Nadella refers to a Microsoft survey on working from home, which found that 87% of employees believe that they are more productive when they work from home, while 80% of Microsoft management believe that workers are less productive.
“We must overcome what we call ‘productivity paranoia’ because all the data we have, shows that 80% or more of individual people believe that they are very productive – except that their management believes that they are not productive. That means there is a significant gap between what they expect and how they feel,” Nadella said.
Microsoft is developing new products to meet the standards of younger workers moving from education to full-time employment to accommodate them, and its Gen-Z workforce, which is most likely to change jobs, as 90% of the Gen Z employees connected to LinkedIn relocate their roles to remote during the pandemic.
One such product is the Microsoft Viva, which is essentially another work-oriented social network that joins Microsoft’s other products, such as LinkedIn and Yammer, albeit with a potentially more modernized twist.
Microsoft’s current work-from-home policy allows employees to spend up to 50% of their working hours remotely, with more than 50% of employees requiring management approval.
The sources for this piece include an article in WindowsCentral.