I was recently chatting with a youngster in the US, who told me that his sister has a full-time remote job where she works only one hour a day and is seemingly having a gala time!
But for now, she is discharging her responsibilities just fine and nobody has a problem.
My first reaction on hearing this was — “That’s the problem with remote work. Employees can shirk work without being found out.”
But on second thoughts, what would have happened if her job was not remote?
Out of 8 hours spent at her desk, 7 would probably be spent on fake work — random emails, Slack, chit-chatting, and so on, which would only serve to distract and hinder other employees!
Work from office would feel more satisfying to the manager. But is it not just hiding the real problem — that the employees don’t have enough meaningful work?
Busyness or measuring the number of hours at the desk is not the answer. The answer is give people meaningful work and measure outcomes.
But is it practical for a large company to measure everyone’s outcome?
It is hard, but unfortunately, there is no other way out. This is why so much fake work is embedded our meetings, emails, and so on. 😊
Focus on outcomes, not the hours spent at the desk. And end this fake work epidemic.
– Rajan