There's no real way to measure productivity to start with. There's no logic underpinning any of this. It's all instinct and bias, and nobody want to say that out loud.
(Devil's advocate) if someone is in a physical office, you know there's at least a possibility that they're working. If someone is fully remote, they can do chores around the house, watch TV, run errands, work 3 jobs - you can even schedule "focus time" on the calendar to guarantee you look productive.
Faking productivity is a lot easier when remote.
Yes, you can also fake being productive in an office, but in an office not being productive usually means reading HN, or whatever. When remote, it means you're probably not even at a computer.
Having managers enforce the rule encourages the transition to appear as though it's a org-wide culture shift rather than a blanket executive decree.
FWIW I run a 100% remote 20 person team (remote before covid)... personally I believe in remote work. At the same time, I can easily see why companies would want employees to go back.
I maintain that I’m equally productive at home as I was in the office. The only difference is the amount of time I spend _pretending_ to to be productive.
Why would I employ someone who makes me worry about whether they're "actually productive" or just doing housework? If their productivity seems up-to-scratch, and they're working less hours, than my other employees, I don't care.
If I'm so worried about employees sneaking hours off work, I probably need to either hire better or stop worrying about the wrong things.
I say it out loud. But it’s on both sides though. Neither side has real data to slam dunk prove their preference is better…but one side has decades and decades of history behind their position where the other side has just over three years…and the first year didn’t count because everyone was still learning how to do it.
* at the margins, which is what we're talking about really. I wouldn't go so far as to say you can't measure productivity at all. You could probably tell if I just up and stopped working.
Faking productivity is a lot easier when remote.
Yes, you can also fake being productive in an office, but in an office not being productive usually means reading HN, or whatever. When remote, it means you're probably not even at a computer.
Having managers enforce the rule encourages the transition to appear as though it's a org-wide culture shift rather than a blanket executive decree.
FWIW I run a 100% remote 20 person team (remote before covid)... personally I believe in remote work. At the same time, I can easily see why companies would want employees to go back.