While working from home, it is often hard to determine how productivity is managed.
According to a study conducted by professors at Baylor University’s School of Business, they monitored four study groups who worked on projects virtually to determine who was more productive.
“Under the conditions of higher virtuality, you need people to hold you accountable to prevent the virtuality from letting you stray or loaf,” Sara Perry, co-author of the study, said.
The people shown to be most productive were carefree teams who had fewer outside obligations.
The second most productive team was a mixture of busy people with still a majority of carefree individuals.
Perry said the opposing teams with a majority of busy employees were those with greater responsibilities like families, children and other outside obligations.
These individuals were shown to display more social loafing and were less connected to those carefree individuals due to their similar lifestyle habits as other busy employees.
Working virtually in the comfort of your home can allow some people to become lazy because there is no one to hold them accountable for their work.
Overall, the study showed as face-to-face interaction decreases, it does not mean that individuals are less productive, but when there are less distractions and more time management strategies implemented, it drives greater productivity.
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