Working Remote - Case Studies

Like many of you at the start of the pandemic, I was excited to work from home. However, I did not anticipate remote work to be a vacation or some type of scenery change to reinvigorate my professional motivation. I’m generally good there. I’ve believed for quite a while I could do my current and last several jobs from just about anywhere. No, I was excited because this would be a real-life chance to conduct case studies on remote work vs traditional office presence.

Don’t get me wrong. I was also thrilled to ditch my commute, adopt leggings as my uniform, and be available to better balance being a wife and mother, as well as a kickass corporate employee. For me, an extroverted introvert (the cool kids call this an ‘ambivert.’ Seriously, look it up), remote work was a break from using my sociable, engaging and charismatic side for 10 to 12 hours a day. I could take some mini recharges as needed. No, not naps, actual recharges for me – grab a cup of coffee on my own, catch up on my outside interests, place a curbside order for groceries, or just go sit outside on the patio for a few. These little breaks, away from people and being “on”, allowed me to easily and confidently get back to work and engaging with my team and coworkers more effectively, ultimately keeping me more productive and motivated to get things done and support others in bringing their A games every day, even in times of uncertainty and anxiety.

Time to nerd out

My kindergartener is learning the scientific method (we can talk about that later – I don’t remember learning this until… high school?), so I figured why not employ that idea to this whole working remotely thing. In case you could use a refresher too, let’s review the scientific method according to elementary school:

Step 1: Make obersvations
Step 2: Form questions
Step 3: Develop a hypothesis (this wasn't on the vocabulary list and turned into a conversation about hippos)
Step 4: Test the hypothesis
Step 5: Record the results
Step 6: Share the results (the point of this article)

I had a lot of observations – everyone I knew was working from home for at least a short period. Forming questions was easy. Are we more or less productive at home? Does WFH work for everyone? Should leggings be approved for office dress code? Did Carole Baskin kill her husband? Am I missing out on something by not being around people? All burning questions that need answers.

So, on to my hippo… hypothesis: Working remotely has no impact to employee productivity or effectiveness and may even increase it under the right circumstances.

There. I said it. Now to test, record, and share my results. Please note names have been changed to protect the innocent and it’s too hard to keep typing ‘this one person I know’. 

Case A: Returning to Office Full Time

Anna is a full-on extrovert, her job has many external facing relationships that traditionally depend on person to person interaction, building relationships and general people skills vs doing technical or analytical activities. Like the rest of us, she ended up working remotely, quarantined and meeting contacts via Zoom and by phone for several months. With only few exceptions where her contacts never did call back, there was no major change in relationships. Everyone adapted and in cases, it was easier to engage and get ahold of people, without having to match up full day schedules, drive or fly for hours, and only meet with 1 or 2 customers for a week’s worth of effort. Anna could now reach out to 3+ customers A DAY, with nearly the same or better engagement.

Early July 2020, we were able to start going back to the office, limited occupancy and Anna started back full time. However, that didn’t really change the way she interacted with customers since across the country most were still remotely working and travel restrictions were in effect, as continued today. The thought was that going back to the office would increase internal collaboration and effectiveness, but with only 25% occupancy allowed, we never really saw any increase (or decrease for that matter) in effectiveness, deliverables or productivity simply by presence in the office.

Result: Working remotely or at the office has no impact to effectiveness or productivity. Same outcomes were observed in both environments.

Case B: Hybrid Return to Office

Kristof (noticing a trend? Parents will) works directly with Sven and others, who are field workers and considered essential, so they were never sent to work remotely, though he himself can work remotely most days. Again, in July, those that were sent to work from home were allowed back and as Kristof’s work interfaced with essential personnel, his schedule turned into a hybrid of a few days in the office and a few days remote.

On remote days, Kristof didn’t have to commute and he was zooming meetings while programming new tools and reviewing reports. He got a lot more done and was more productive with his time when it came to deliverables and improving processes. On the days at the office, the technical and administrative work was slower, as he engaged with people, built relationships and went to the field to observe the physical projects he was working on.

Result: Working remotely vs at the office allowed focus on different aspects of a job in each environment, with no impact to productivity or effectiveness.

Case C: Fully Remote

Elsa let go of the notion that her work could only be done at an office around other people well before the pandemic, so when the lockdown orders came in March 2020, she already had a home office setup the same, if not better, than her cubicle at work, and quickly took the lead on adapting her team to fully virtual work. It was an easy task, as her team already essentially worked remote from the office, scheduling logistics and interfacing with manufacturing facilities across the country and globe with no physical presence needed.

With no commute and no random distractions that occur within an office environment, Elsa was able to take on additional responsibilities and be successful at all of them. Over the course of the last ten months, she expanded her scope from a few improvement initiatives to virtually supervising up to a team of 10 at times (as well as the occasional preschooler at home, which should count as at least 4 additional people) and implementing new business processes for a global organization. Looking back on her own tendency to introversion, she observed that while she could have probably done all those things in an office environment as well (sans preschoolers), she was able to do them more effectively remote. By maximizing her workday for actual work and being able to connect with just about anyone within short notice, she could excel at her work responsibilities and maintain a healthy life balance, thereby being a more productive, happy and effective professional.

Result: Working remote had a positive impact to productivity and no decrease in effectiveness vs being in an office environment.

Scientific (slightly biased) Conclusion

I have many other stories from across a spectrum of professionals that argue for office or remote or a hybrid and I acknowledge that I’m biased to the results of this scientific endeavor, as I think I work better remotely (like Elsa. She’s me). However, I firmly believe that employers should take a good look at their employee population, position responsibilities and general overhead costs and consider at least a hybrid model with accommodation for either full, partial, or non-office-based employees. Take a page from my kindergartner's class; half are online, half are in-person and occasionally we all take a virtual day, but everyone is learning effectively and meeting milestones (despite the fact that I'm having to re-learn math in a new way, but hey, it's all about growing and moving forward, right?)

Certainly, in the post-pandemic world, whenever that is, traditional work environments aren’t the only way to effectively deliver outcomes. Companies are seeing cost savings of reduced travel and less office overhead when we can easily and conveniently connect over any virtual platform. Why pay several thousand dollars and use valuable time when Anna can text Olaf to virtually meet in 30 min, knock out a client proposal, and get on to the next right thing? Or why maintain a multi-million dollar office facility when you could downsize to a co-working space, with less overhead, and rotate people based on company needs? Several high-profile companies are already headed this direction and it will be interesting to see how others adapt to this new normal. Because whether we like it or not, remote work is here to stay, and I, for one, am an advocate for it.

Note from the editor: The kingdom of Arendelle approves this message and would like to point out the use of names above accurately portray the work environments of the respective fictional characters

Amanda lives and works full time in Texas, with her husband and kids (three little boys under 6), two dogs and two cats. In her spare time (ha! what's that?), she likes to cook, kayak, and pursue her photography hobby. Someday she might start a blog or podcast.