The Myth of Productivity: Debunking the 9-to-5 Paradigm

Introduction

Ever since the COVID pandemic happened, there have been more and more people working remotely. In fact, before the pandemic, remote workers in America were on the rise from 5.6% in 2018 to 22.4% in 2019. Even though many articles are talking about the death of remote work, in 2022, the US specifically still saw higher rates of remote workers than before the pandemic with 26% of workers working remotely. The statistics don’t stop there.

Remote jobs now, as of May 2023, make up 15% of work opportunities in the US. In addition to the statistics on remote work, it’s been reported that remote workers are 74% happier compared to workers who are in the office. It might sound like common sense, however, most companies are ignoring the fact that happier employees are 20% more productive than those who are not as happy or psychologically well. You may be asking why I’m sharing all these numbers. Let me explain.

The New Age of Working

As the turn of the pandemic started bringing normalcy back to the world, many CEOs and Leaders started talking about bringing employees back to the office 5 days a week. As we all read in the articles on Apple, Google, Facebook, Tesla, and more, employees took a stand for continuing remote work. Eventually, some companies were able to compromise and develop a hybrid working model where employees were required in the office certain days a week and allowed to work from home on others.

I’m not opposed to the hybrid model and I’m not here to debate what working model is better between hybrid or remote. However, I am here to discuss the lies that certain CEOs are delivering to the markets when it comes to remote work. We hear CEOs like Elon Musk say working remotely is “morally wrong” and Jamie Dimon saying working remotely harms productivity. Others have added their own versions of these quotes in some way, shape, or form.

Let me start by getting some things off my chest before we look at some more numbers. First, although I bring up these specific CEOs, my issue is not with them per se but more along the deliberate act to tell misinformation about remote work when the truth is they want their employees in the office to physically see them do their work. This article is to bring light to the misconceptions certain leaders have created a narrative around. 

In my opinion, most leaders who want their knowledge workers back in the office are seeking one major thing back: CONTROL. Control of their employees, control of their time, control of their employee's lives like they once had before the pandemic. They want to praise the “hardest” worker who comes in early and leaves late. They want to go back to the “normal” way of working because that’s how they climbed the ladder. They can’t fathom someone working from home being as ambitious as they were because they had to sacrifice. 

I’m here to tell you that the life of 9-to-5 commute, clock in, clock out, commute, go to sleep and do it all over again is over. The hardest worker is no longer perceived by working over time or being the last in the office. The hardest worker is now the one who produces the best outcomes, whether that is in 40 hours a week or 10 hours while working from a campervan. It doesn’t matter. The outcomes are there and the company continues to see another day and grow.

My goal with Grapevine Software is to make this the new normal. We want to create a world where work is no longer defined by physical spaces, but limitless opportunities for connection and collaboration. More importantly, we want to create a future where work is flexible, inclusive, and fulfilling for all. Let me explain further why this mission is so important for not just me and our team but several employees who do not benefit from being in the office. Let’s get to it!

Remote Work Facts, Stats, or Opinion? Let's Discuss

CEOs who want their employees back in the office say remote workers aren’t as ambitious or productive. Let’s see if that statement is true or a personal opinion. According to a study by Stanford, where they conducted research on 16,000 workers over 9 months, they found that working from home increased productivity by 13%. In addition, the workers in the study reported they saw improvements in work satisfaction, and attrition rates were cut by 50%. I’d say the misinformation delivered by opinion instead of fact is directing others towards the wrong conclusions.

If increased productivity or reduction of attrition doesn’t interest you, maybe costs will. It has been shown that companies with a hybrid working model save $11k per employee per year. Let’s do some quick math here. Let’s say you have 10 employees and go from an office model to a hybrid working model. 10 x $11k is $110k. Imagine what you could do for your business with $110k. 

We aren’t saying to never meet in person, in fact, we encourage it. However, we recommend changing the way you work in person with quarterly or bi-annual on sites. On sites are the new off sites. The best part is that when you meet in person, you aren’t solely focused on business. You are engaging with one another and getting to know them more and more each time. The benefit is the outcome of trust and more engagement when people go back to working remotely.

We bring this up because another rant from top executives with old school thinking is that not being in the office harms collaboration and it’s harder to build culture. There may be some truth to this as we have conducted several interviews during our product validation phase. Many of the people we spoke with did mention culture being a bit more difficult to build remotely and the comradery wasn’t as frequent as in the office.

However, the same individuals mentioned that it isn’t impossible. In fact, it’s quite possible to build culture remotely if you have the right tools and the act of intentionality. The keyword here is intentionality. As we prepare to build Grapevine, we have built it with intentionality. Our platform has culture building capabilities sprinkled throughout the system. With our break room feature, any employee can jump in the break room at any time to have a quick chat with team members.

In addition, people will be notified when you join and they can join directly by clicking the notification. Our community functionality provides coworkers with an internal social network where they can showcase their life in and out of the virtual office. We also have created a more interesting employee profile where people can give more about their personal life if they choose too. Employees have the ability to upload photos of their family, pets, and more. They can add their hobbies and create groups around their hobbies within the community function.

Leading with a Purpose

Our vision at Grapevine is to create a world where work is no longer defined by physical spaces, but by limitless opportunities for connection and collaboration. We believe that by providing the best Virtual Office Platform software, we can transform the workplace and improve the lives of everyone involved. As owners and employees of Grapevine, we are committed to creating a workplace that is not only efficient and productive but also engaging, collaborative, and fun.

We believe that work should be a place where everyone feels valued, supported, and inspired to do their best work. We envision a world where work is no longer a burden but a source of pride and fulfillment, and we are dedicated to making that vision a reality. We asked ourselves, how do we get to this reality? The answer is simple, we need to change the way we work and we are in the process of making remote and flexible hybrid organizations a force to be reckoned with.

We believe the traditional 9-to-5, in office, working world is over and we need to adapt to the future of work. Grapevine will be the catalyst in this endeavor because we believe that work should no longer be measured by hours worked but by the outcomes produced.  We are building the future of work and hope you join us along the way. Let’s make work more flexible, inclusive and fulfilling for everyone!