'This feeling is Productivity Paranoia': Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says on work from home debate

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New Delhi: ‘Work from home’ is become a common trend in post Covid-19 world. Employees from all sectors usually demand from organizations to remain flexible regarding working place and timing. It’s become a kind of norm by companies to provide hybrid setup where workers can do work from home a few days in a week. But this trend unfurls another problem that has intensified after Moonlighting saga. While talking about a complex disagreement between Managers and Employees over productivity in hybrid mode, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has termed this feeling as ‘Productivity Paranoia’.   

What is a Productivity Paranoia?

A Microsoft survey revealed that over 80% of managers are concerned if the employees are productive enough while working from home. Simultaneously, 87% of employees lack context on how and why they’re being tracked, which can undermine trust and lead to “productivity theatre”. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has called this situation ‘Productivity Paranoia’.

The survey took 20,000 thousands employers across the 11 countries. The result of the ‘Work Trend Index Pulse’ hinted at a fundamental disagreement between employers and employees over productivity with reference to hybrid mode. 

Here are the key findings of 'Work Trend Index Pulse Survey'

• The survey says that leaders and managers don’t see the conventional visual cues as they can’t ‘see’ who is doing hard work or who is sitting idle.
• “And as employees feel the pressure to ‘prove’ they’re working, digital overwhelm is soaring,” the findings showed.
• Indeed, compared to in-person managers, hybrid managers are more likely to say they struggle to trust their employees to do their best work (49 per cent vs. 36 per cent) and report that they have less visibility into the work their employees do (54 per cent vs. 38 per cent).
• Nearly 48 per cent of employees and 53 per cent of managers report that they’re already burned out at work.
• According to the report, leaders need to pivot from worrying about whether their people are working enough to helping them focus on the work that’s most important.
• “Solving this issue needs to start at the top: 74 per cent of people managers say more guidance on prioritising their own work would help their performance, and 80 per cent say they’d personally benefit from more clarity from senior leadership on impactful priorities,” said the report.