JDP recently surveyed more than 2,000 Americans who typically work in offices who are now working from home full-time to try and learn more about how much they’re working, productivity levels, and whether or not they’re boss trusts them working remotely. The start of the survey analysis looked at comparing trends in what hours look like working in the office vs working remotely from home.
How much are you working during quarantine?
The first part of the analysis from JDP asked people who are now working from home full-time, how their hours compare to what they worked while in the office. The results were mixed. 42% actually reported working less than usual while at home. 33% said they were working more than usual while working from home during the pandemic. 25% said they were working about the same as usual.
If you’re working more, why?
For those that said they were actually working more hours during the pandemic, 49% of surveyed respondents said they found it hard to keep boundaries between work and home life while working from home. 42% of respondents said they were working more because they actually had more work to be done than usual. And then there were the people who said they were trying to be extra valuable at work and trying to provide value to the company as they were afraid of losing their job. 9% said that was the reason why they spent more time working during the pandemic.
If you’re working less, why?
For those that said they were working less during the pandemic, 45% of surveyed respondents said the reason they were working less is that they had less work to be done at home. 40% of surveyed respondents said they found it hard to focus on work while working from home. 15% said they found it hard to focus on work with everything else going on in the world related to Covid-19 and Coronavirus.
How’s your productivity while working from home?
The next part of the work from home survey from JDP looked at the topic of workplace productivity. The section found that some workers were more productive while others were less productive, and some reported their productivity levels stayed about the same. 41% of surveyed respondents said they were more productive while working from home. 33% of surveyed respondents said they were less productive while working from home. 26% said they were as productive working from home as they were while working in the office. As you can see these results are kind of a mixed bag.
Are you working different hours during quarantine?
This part of the survey found that an overwhelming percent of surveyed respondents said that they were working different hours while working from home. 30% of surveyed respondents said they both started and finished working earlier than they would in the office. 28% said they started and finished working later than they would normally. 19% said they start earlier and finish later. 23% said their hours were basically the same as they would be while in the office. The survey also asked if people working from home were more apt to work both nights and weekends during than pandemic than before. 66% of respondents said they were working nights and weekends more now while only 34% said they were not.
Do you have more distractions at work or at home?
One controversial topic that was covered in the survey from JDP was that of distractions while working from home. Many people who are new to working from home full-time find it difficult to deal with the increased amount of distractions while working from home. 54% of respondents agreed saying they have more distractions at home than in the office. 29% of respondents said they had more distractions at work. 17% said they had about the same amount of distraction in the office as they did at home.
Do you feel that your boss trusts you while working from home?
Employee/boss trust is very important if you are going to be successful and allowed to work from home. Interestingly enough, 92% of respondents said they believe their boss trusts them working from home…and 86% say they’ve taken advantage of their freedom while working remote. Breaking that down even further, 54% of respondents said their boss trusts them a little bit, 32% said their boss trusts them a lot, and only 14% said their boss does not trust them at all while working from home. Respondents were also asked if they thought their coworkers have taken advantage of being remote. 85% said that they thought their co-workers were taking advantage of the situation working from home while only 15% said no.
What have you done with any expected time off during the pandemic?
With many people either laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, many people have found themselves with unexpected free time. 29% of respondents said they just relaxed and took it easy in their free time. 19% of respondents said they spent free time on personal enrichment and new hobbies. 19% of respondents said they took the time to learn new skills relevant to their career or future career during the pandemic. 19% said that they looked for and successfully found supplementary work during the pandemic. 14% said they looked for but were not successful in finding supplementary work during the pandemic.
Have you seen any coworkers outside of work, since the quarantine started?
The last part of the work from home survey from JDP asked whether or not people had seen any coworkers outside of a work setting in the last 4 months. 56% said they have not seen coworkers outside of work during the pandemic, while 44% said yes.
The full results of the JDP study can be seen in the graphic below.
Infographic by: www.jdp.com
