The Homebound Productivity Problem

Introduction

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic taking place at the moment, a vast number of knowledge workers have found themselves thrusted into situations where they have to work from home. This is most certainly a welcome measure to ensure the people’s safety in these distressing times, but such a drastic change can have unintended consequences. For some, the transition was completely painless. I would argue that for most workers, this has not been the case. In fact, an understandably rushed transition from an office setting to working from home is extremely likely to bring unexpected challenges. These can not only undermine the productivity of individuals, but also cause anguish and threaten their mental health in what is proving to be a difficult situation for all. A number of environmental, sociocultural, and psychological factors come into play in explaining why a transition to telecommuting from home can be difficult, but there are ways in which one can diminish the effects of such out-of-control elements. 

Environmental Factors

A multitude of seemingly innocuous environmental factors contribute to making a forced transition from an office setting to telecommuting from home difficult for knowledge workers. For one, the disappearance of a ‘work routine’ can leave individuals scrambling to find stable habits that allow them to optimize their workflow. Over extensive periods of time, most professionals have learned to associate specific cues as triggers that cause a shift in their psychological state upon going to work. This associative learning often takes place in the form of classical conditioning, the processes of which are both subtle and far-reaching. One easily observable example of such conditioning can be found in the coffee consumption habits of a large portion of individuals. Needless to say, a good dose of caffeine in the morning does wonders in attenuating morning grogginess before reaching the office. However, the very act of consuming this beverage daily before work frequently becomes associated with the increased productivity derived from it. In other words, the process of drinking coffee itself becomes associated with feelings of alertness, mental sharpness, and increased readiness for work. This follows the classic paradigm of a neutral stimulus becoming conditioned and triggering a behavioural response that was previously associated with an unconditioned stimulus. Other environmental cues such as putting on a specific work attire or commuting to a workspace can follow a similar process and become unconsciously associated with putting oneself in a productive state of mind. For a number of men, putting on a necktie is a necessary component of dressing up for work, and such a garment is only worn in a professional setting. It is then to be expected for the process of putting it on and the sensations associated with it to help one in getting into the mindset of working. In normal circumstances, the aforementioned environmental and behavioural cues are helpful and under-appreciated by most, but their importance becomes abundantly clear when they are taken away. This is precisely what happens when situations arise that force people to disrupt their ‘work routine,’ which in most cases is centred around the act of going to a physical office. The absence or changing of one’s environment and collection of work-related habits can then result in unintended behavioural changes that result in a loss of productivity. As many people are experiencing right now, difficulties in concentrating on a task or in entering an uninterrupted workflow can lead to real frustration, if not mental distress.  

The environmental changes inherent to working from home have definite implications on the output of knowledge workers, but they are not the only elements that do so. The blurring of the line between work-related and personal activities is inevitable when working from home, which can have important psychological and emotional implications. The typical reality of a workplace that is markedly different from one’s living spaces helps in creating a barrier between work and personal life. In a situation where one is forced to conduct both personal and professional activities in the same physical space, this mental divide is compromised. It can then become much harder for one to compartmentalize and to keep their professional duties from permeating the rest of their day. For certain career-driven individuals, this change might prove to be a beneficial one. However, I would hypothesize that a vast portion of knowledge workers are not passionate about their work to the extent of willingly letting it be a great part of their personal life. In this majority population, the pervasion of work in other aspects of their daily existence will be an unwelcome side effect of working from home. This might seem like a benefit to employers, but I would argue that such a phenomenon would also be detrimental to them. Without the ability to completely dissociate themselves from their work, knowledge workers could undergo a number of psychological changes that would decrease both their quality of life and their productivity. For example, the absence of complete mental rest from professional activities could lead to intellectual complacency, which in turn would reduce innovation. Indeed, the lingering of professional duties in an individual’s mind could hinder their ability to maintain an adequate perspective, and thus lead them to be increasingly caught up in the execution of day-to-day processes at the expense of allocating mental resources to improving the way things are done. There is a possibility that workers will become more effective at their jobs, but the unquantifiable opportunity costs of lost efficiency due to the absence of change and alteration of work operations could bear enormous consequences in the long run. It is in the best interest of information companies to cater to the well-being of their workers if growth is to be prioritized. 

Sociocultural Factors

From the possibility to easily keep up with friends and family to the ability to access a vast amount of information on a whim, the benefits of interconnectivity in modern societies are clear. However, there are also significant drawbacks to this information-rich environment. As a matter of fact, the constant exposure to low-level stimuli symptomatic of modern life can cause a yearning for more. By that, I mean that individuals become used to be in a constant state of superficial cognitive stimulation. This is easily observable in the now-automated responses of people when they are put in scenarios that are even mildly unstimulating. How long does it take you to take your cellphone out of your pocket when waiting to pay at the grocery store? Most people who have adopted this modern way of living have developed a conditioned avoidance of boredom that has profound implications when it comes to tasks that are more cognitively challenging. Far from me is to pretend that this is a new occurrence; newspapers and other outmoded forms of infotainment used to fill that void with great success. Even so, these were curated by professionals and much less addictive in nature to the smart devices that now occupy every spheres of our lives. There are great attentional differences between reading newspaper articles and scrolling through social media applications purposefully built to induce neurotransmitter release in the user’s brain. From the advent of the 24-hour news cycle to newly-created societal expectations to be available at all times through our online presence, we now live in a world of ceaseless distraction. For a lot of people, the only times when they will disconnect themselves and take on tasks that are more intellectually challenging is in the workplace. This temporary relinquishing of distraction is facilitated by the social and cultural norms of an office. In theory, knowledge workers are expected to focus their total undivided attention to the tasks in front of them, and risk being admonished by their peers if they are found doing the opposite. In practice, there are other factors inherent to a collaborative workplace that also lead to distraction and workflow interruption, but this is neither here nor there. In the context of telecommuting from home, the social pressure not to give in to distracting activities vanishes. As this takes place, individuals can easily revert back to disruptive habits and drastically reduce their productivity. Such a change would most likely occur unconsciously, and the affected professionals might not even observe of their reduced output. As a result, tasks that require uninterrupted concentration will now necessitate larger time allocations to be finalized, and fewer of them will be completed throughout a work week.  

Of course, the time taken by employees to finish a given task would not matter if their productivity was measured by their actual output. Unfortunately, most knowledge workers are rewarded for the time spent working on projects, not on their completion. In a controlled setting where the rate at which someone advances a task is correlated with the time used working on it, measuring output using time as an indicator is fine. When these assumptions are violated, however, time alone is not a reliable indicator of a worker’s productivity. In a culture that puts a tremendous value on the appearance of work, the first alternative measure of productivity then becomes busyness. Most people know the feeling of starting the day with the intent of finishing a specific task, but getting caught up in day-to-day pains such as administrative activities, or sending and receiving emails. Before you know it, the workday has gone by and very little productive work has been done. Because of such instances, I have a hard time believing that one’s busyness is a valid indicator of the value they bring to an organization. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that situations like this are sometimes unavoidable. My point here is that inferring productivity from busyness is a flawed practice, even more so when working from home. It is easily conceivable for the amount of administrative work or communication needs (emails, calls, etc.) to increase when individuals are forced to work from home, which entails that a larger fraction of one’s time will need to be spent on doing these things. Let us examine the example of workers A and B to understand the fundamental weakness of the busyness-as-productivity paradigm. Worker A spends four hours out of an eight-hour workday answering emails, while worker B reduces this time to two hours (through gains in efficiency) and gains a two-hour window to spend on more rewarding tasks. Worker B will find themselves having a potential fifty-percent increase in ‘true’ productivity, yet worker A will appear busier at work. Without other ways to assess productivity, worker A will be considered a more productive remote employee. See the issue? 

Psychological Factors

In the face of incessant distraction and suffering from the disappearance of imposed professional habits, individuals will tend to rely heavily on discipline to make up for their attention shortcomings. Discipline is a great and necessary tool, but relying heavily on it is an unsustainable practice that can rapidly lead to frustration. To examine why this is the case, let us turn our attention towards the Baumeister’s Strength Model of Self-Control. This theory conceptualizes self-control not as an infinite resource always available to serve us, but as a finite asset that must be used in a calculated way in order to reap its benefits. For the sake of this article, self-control and discipline will be considered the same, even though their applications can differ. Based on Baumeister’s model, a constant use of self-control is emotionally and cognitively tiring, therefore it should be used in a manner that reduces the need for its very practice. Just like a muscle that gets tired from exercise and becomes progressively inapt at contracting, one’s use of their self-control abilities weakens them in the long run. Clearly, then, relying on discipline as a primary strategy to fend off distractions and remain focused on working from home is a maladaptive one. The root causes of unwelcome behaviours have to be examined and addressed to warrant and productivity from home, as well as a healthy state of mind. If this is not done, it is all too easy to try and rely solely on discipline, which is not an appropriate tool in this case. The repeated failing of self-control in refraining from giving in to disruptive activities might eventually lead an individual to succumb to self-defeating thought patterns. For example, it is very tempting to leave our cellphone in view while working and simply telling ourselves that we won’t use it, even if we receive notifications. Needless to say, this is easier said than done, and we can often find ourselves answering text messages without even realizing that we just failed our own commitment. Without external circumstances to attribute this behaviour to, thoughts like “I cannot control myself,” or “I am not a disciplined person” can seep into our self-dialogue and if we are not careful, our self-identity. The problem then compounds itself over time, and becomes much harder to correct. 

Remedies

Various factors can make a forced transition to work from home challenging for most knowledge professionals. However, putting in place certain strategies can circumvent these elements and reduce their effects, thus making the change easier. The first strategy that should be implemented is a simple form of environmental design, centred around the systematic elimination of distractions. For example, leaving one’s personal cellphone in a different room, unplugging the TV if there is one, and maintaining a clear working space are all changes that can easily be implemented. This methodical decluttering brings a cascade of benefits. Not only does it eliminates a great deal of possible interruptions throughout the day, it also reduces the amount of self-control necessary to stay focused on the task at hand. This in turn leaves more of this scarce resource to be used when it really becomes necessary. Following, homebound workers should strive to make their work environment as detached from the rest of their living quarters as they can, to minimize the overreaching of work duties into their personal life. Third, putting in place a strict ‘work-from-home’ routine is a necessity to maintain high levels of productivity as time goes by. Elements as understated as showering at similar times every day and dressing up as if going to an office can prove to be highly beneficial in preserving an illusion of normalcy. Additionally, I would recommend stringent time-blocking to make the most of every day, because it is extremely easy to completely lose track of time when remaining in the same environment for an extended duration. This practice would include setting specific times at which the workday starts and ends (if this is not done by an employer), in addition to pre-determining break times. Lastly, changing one’s work habits can greatly enhance the fulfilment that work brings, and enhance the experience of working at home. Prioritizing important tasks over mundane ones and eliminating harmful practices such as multi-tasking will increase one’s true productivity, and increase the likelihood of experience satisfaction from the work they do. Such changes would also go a long way in improving one’s overall quality of life. 

Conclusion

Sudden adaption is never easy. Right now, an enormous number of knowledge professionals are forced to transition to doing their work from their home instead of their usual office. Needless to say, the current state of global turmoil does not make this transition an effortless one. Anxiety is abundant, and definitely not conducive to homebound productivity. In addition, other elements ranging from our environment to our psychological mechanisms add further difficulty in adapting to this new reality. When combined, outside stressors and maladaptive practices can lead to lacking productivity and the creation of negative mental schemas. Fortunately, there are ways to tackle some of these elements in order to make working from home a less daunting task throughout these very trying times. Were the situation to persist, the implementation of some of the strategies outlined previously would greatly benefit both homebound workers and employers. Most importantly, these tools would allow individuals to take back some degree of control during a situation they can do very little about.  

Stay healthy, and take care. 

One Little Bird

Hour upon hour fighting for the chance to bask in the sunlight, he struggled into his growth. From a tiny speck of dirt, he expanded into the very essence of living. Day by day he grew taller, to the point where the forest became invisible.

He had made it, he supposed. His roots were planted, hard to displace and his branches so full of leaves they could barely keep straight. All weren’t fans of his overbearing stature, however. His very broadness caused his siblings to falter, overshadowed as they were by the very things he was most proud about. He couldn’t share he told them, but through hard work and perseverance maybe they, as well, could finally see the light. When one of them argued, through whispers and creaks, that his position resulted from more than strong will, he got offended and went on a tirade, assuring that he too, had dealt with his share of hardships. Once, a strong wind blew him crooked, and he had to struggle very hard to stand back up again. Another time a squirrel started nipping at his base, and only his will, so he said, had prevented him from falling to his grave. Luck didn’t exist, he insisted. His spectacular position resulted solely from mindset and discipline. 

He maintained his mantra forever and ever, until one day a little bird made it his mission to open his eyes. He started slowly, at first only scratching. Seeing it had no effect on the hardened giant, he increased his pressure and opened a tiny crack. Having never dealt with this before, the self-proclaimed master of the forest had no idea what to do. He inquired and implored, but by the time he got an answer, he was pouring sap out of the gash opened by the bird. Couldn’t he use his own advice? A neighbour asked him. Surely the bird only landed on him because his mindset wasn’t right. Of course, the bird would have been no problem had the Giant had enough discipline to make him go away. 

His leaves started to fall and his branches grew weaker. No one could help him, nor would they if given the chance. For the first time, he now experienced what they had all been through at one point or another. Struggle had come upon him, and he had no idea how to fight through it.

They say you can’t see the forest from the trees. Similarly, it can be hard to understand the whole of a situation when you’re in the middle of it. Be proud of yourself, but be aware of your luck. You are not self-made, no one is.

The Twins

They were both young and ambitious. Sophie was often reprimanded as a child for having her mind in the clouds, whereas Margaret was as down to Earth as a young girl can be. Sophie loved painting and theatre, while Margaret preferred watching cartoons and spying on the neighbours. All went well between the two of them until adolescence, when their interests diverged further. Sophie cultivated her interest in the arts and was on the verge of being accepted into an extremely prestigious literary art program. Margaret, on the other hand, slowly became overwhelmed by the stress of her daily existence and started looking for ways to make her pain vanish. It started with alcohol, then she fell in love with downers. Sophie was upbeat and glowed with energy, Margaret was depressed and looked drained from the daily. Needless to say, their states of mind were as different as can be. 

As if the existence of one determined the life of the other, Sophie slowly spiralled down into the agonizing state Margaret was in. Her ambition found its way near her sister’s, that is to say, hidden in the very back of her mind. She let go of her passions and in doing so, caused herself to lose the remaining sparks of joy that used to lit her soul. She used to glow. She now merely resembled an ember lost in a valley of ashes. Once her downward spiral begun, she spun and spun and spun and spun. Ever faster, always lower. Her last days coincided with Margaret’s. When all was said and done, people grieved not the lost, but the wasted potential.

Sophie and Margaret represent two facets of the same story. To a varying degree, they are both present in all of us. Every individual bears the hopeful innocence of Sophie, even if it is reduced to a sliver as adulthood takes its toll. On the other hand, the excessive nature of Margaret is a personality trait that everyone has to reign back once in a while. The key is to always make certain that Sophie comes out ahead, even if she does so by the slimmest of margins. To do so, find your passion and cultivate it; keep dreaming big even in the face of larger than life obstacles and smile a bunch, no matter what (or why). Acknowledge Margaret, but keep her in line. For some this will be harder, their nature leaning more on Margaret’s shoulders than Sophie’s. Still, they should make their best effort to maintain and strengthen Sophie’s light. The light will both guide them and shun Margaret away. 

It’s a two-front battle, but a winnable one.

Seek Discomfort

First things first, the title’s not mine. It’s the name of the clothing line launched by the guys behind Yes Theory (if you don’t know who they are/what they do, look them up on Youtube, it’s worth it).

I lift weights, that’s what I do. 

For the past few years, most of my athletic goals have been related to the poundages I can get from point A to point B and how I look while doing it. There’s just something I used to find deeply fulfilling about sculpting my physique as close as possible to my vision of the ideal body.

I became so entrenched in this very limited vision of physical human potential that it stopped allowing me to expand my athletic and mental horizons. Don’t get me wrong, up to a certain point, progressing in strength was definitely correlated with an improvement in mental fortitude. After a couple of years, however, strength training became a routine rather than a way of pushing my limits.

I found myself unable to mentally push myself in activities in which I wasn’t already proficient. Because I had settled for so long into this very specific and limited dimension of fitness, trying new challenges felt like a chore instead of an opportunity to better myself.

So I started running. A lot.

Picture this: a short, stocky guy who hasn’t even dared to think about running in years puts on his gym shoes and starts running like his life depends on it. Common sense would dictate that I wouldn’t make it very far in this new endeavour, yet I just ran a half-marathon after 3 weeks of training. This is far from being an extraordinary achievement, but fuck it, I’m proud of myself.

Getting out of my athletic comfort zone is making me realize that the limits I have set for myself are completely illusory and rooted in insecurity. I am, and always have been, afraid of failing. That has made me increasingly risk-averse, even when it comes to trivialities such as changing my exercise regiment. In other words, I have opened my eyes to my shortcomings and I can now see all that I have been missing out on because of them.

The time has come for a change, and I am leading the charge.