Recognizing And Rewarding Hybrid Work Productivity
Hybrid work environments, in which employees split their time between working from home and the office, have become increasingly popular in recent years. This trend has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many companies to adopt remote work arrangements. While hybrid work can offer many benefits, such as increased flexibility and the ability to attract top talent from anywhere, it also presents challenges. In particular, it can be difficult to maintain productivity when employees are not all working in the same physical location. Having helped 21 companies transition to hybrid work models using research-based best practices, I can speak to the real-world experience of organizations adopting such models for maintaining and even boosting productivity.
Behavioral economics, a branch of economics that studies the psychological and social factors that influence economic decision-making, can offer insights into how to maximize productivity in a hybrid work environment. In particular, understanding cognitive biases, which are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, can help managers and HR professionals design policies and practices that promote productivity.
One cognitive bias that can impact productivity in a hybrid work environment is the sunk cost bias. This bias refers to the tendency to continue investing time, money, or effort into a project or decision because of the resources that have already been invested, even when it is no longer rational to do so. In a hybrid work environment, employees may feel pressure to continue working on a project even when it is not the most productive use of their time, simply because they have already put so much effort into it.
To mitigate the sunk cost bias, managers and HR professionals can encourage employees to periodically reevaluate the value of their work and to be willing to pivot to more productive tasks if necessary. This can be done through regular check-ins and progress reviews, as well as through the use of project management tools that allow employees to track their time and prioritize tasks.
Another cognitive bias that can impact productivity in a hybrid work environment is the availability heuristic. This bias refers to the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of an event occurring based on how easily examples come to mind. In a hybrid work environment, managers may feel employees are more productive when they are in the office because they can easily see their coworkers and track their progress, even if they are not actually more productive in that setting.
