Is It Time to Let Employees Work from Anywhere?

A study found that “work from anywhere” policies increased productivity.

by

and

Cirrus Foroughi

by

and

Cirrus Foroughi

August 14, 2019

Martin Barraud/Getty Images

Summary.

While working from home (WFH) has become relatively commonplace, a new form of remote work is emerging: working from anywhere (WFA), in which employees can live and work where they choose. Managers often worry about remote employees working less, or multitasking, mixing personal responsibilities with work. There are also concerns that allowing employees to work from anywhere could decrease communication and collaboration among coworkers. A new study looked at the effects of a work-from-anywhere program initiated in 2012 among patent examiners at the U.S. Patent & Trade Office (USPTO). Researchers analyzed productivity data for patent examiners who switched from work-from-home work conditions to the WFA program. Their results indicate that examiners’ work output increased by 4.4% after transition to WFA, with no significant increase in rework.

Despite a few high-profile retreats from remote work policies in recent years, data on the U.S. workforce suggests that remote work is increasing. A 2017 Gallup poll reported that 43% of employed Americans had spent at least some time working remotely, and US Census data released in 2018 reported 5.2% of U.S. workers being based entirely at home.

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Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury is the Lumry Family Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School. He was an assistant professor at Wharton prior to joining Harvard. His research is focused on studying the Future of Work, especially the changing Geography of Work. In particular, he studies the productivity effects of geographic mobility of workers, causes of geographic immobility and productivity effects of remote work practices such as “work from anywhere” and “all-remote.” He is the author of the recent HBR article titled “Our Work-from-Anywhere Future.”
Barbara Z. Larson is executive professor of management and director of partnerships at Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Her research focuses on the personal and interpersonal skills that people need to work effectively in virtual environments, and she works with collaborators in both academia and industry to develop training methods and materials to enable more productive virtual work. Prior to her academic career, Professor Larson worked for 15 years in international finance and operations leadership, most recently as Director of International Finance at R.R. Donnelley.
CF

Cirrus Foroughi is a doctoral candidate in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on IT and the future of work, namely how IT facilitates alternative work arrangements, and whether and how IT complements or substitutes workers of different skill levels. Prior to HBS, Cirrus held research assistantships at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

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Is It Time to Let Employees Work from Anywhere?

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