Remote Work, Productivity, and Trust
You know what happens when you assume…
With most of the existing workforce now being sent home to work remotely due to COVID-19, bosses, hiring managers, and HR professionals will have to work together to face and challenge assumptions about productivity and engagement.
Assumptions are a form of mental or emotional block. When we identify, understand, and challenge them, we can all feel calmer and more productive at work. Assumptions specific to the workplace can come from or be influenced by different scenarios:
- Actual people you have worked with before, or currently, and their capabilities
- The story we tell ourselves about the work-from-home employee
- Not believing in the “true human resource” lying dormant and seldom activated in all people
- Not trusting people to get a specific task or project done, either due to past failures or lack of experience
Trust and assumptions
Trust is a big topic right now – in the political landscape, of course, but especially in the workplace and in corporations. Corporations have, over the last decade (or two, or three!), been a source of great public distrust. There have been protests about corporate treatment of employees, use of exploited labor sources, and damage done to the environment, to name a few.
In terms of the individual employee, there has also been a lack of trust on a fundamental level. The average employee does not trust their employer to have their back. The average manager doesn’t trust the employee to get the job done right, if at all.
When there is a lack of trust, there comes anxiety. From that anxiety, there comes an action to alleviate the anxiety. This action can, of course, be constructive or destructive when it comes to the workplace, hiring, and having an overall productive workforce.
Anxiety – it gets the best of us!
This particular sequence of events can be illustrated perfectly with a common household scenario.
Cooking, in this case, has four stages. First, gathering the ingredients and doing the prep-work. Second, the actual cooking of the food. Third, and arguably the best part, the eating of the food. And finally, fourth, the cleanup of the dishes.
Generally speaking, most households have a rule that if one person does the first two steps, the other person is expected to do the fourth. Typically, both people get to eat, so that takes care of step three.
As many people have experienced in their own household, if the second person continuously neglects the fourth step, the first person will form the assumption that the cleaning won’t get done. In newer relationships, this scenario can start out even rockier, with the assumption already being in place due to past partners not doing the work or doing it badly.
Tensions rise in the household and anxiety spikes. Resentments form. We’ve all seen it, we’ve all been there, and none of us want to be there again.
Assumptions in the workplace
This example can also be applied to the workplace – from menial tasks to big projects.
The manager thinks, “Is this employee going to do what I need them to do? Do I have to micromanage them?”
Where does this come from?
It could be that this is employee who has just been hired – the manager could be reacting to assumptions like this person hasn’t yet proven themselves, or the last person didn’t do a good job, or even deeper biases.
It could also be someone who has done the job before, but not done it well. Instead of training them or helping them correct the mistake, it’s possible that resentment built, and trust eroded.
These assumptions are harmful. Why hire someone and train them if you’re not going to trust them to do the job? Why continue to work with someone ineffective if you’re not going to help them get better? Why are you hiring people in the first place who you don’t trust to do the job?
This is a big one.
Why are you hiring people you don’t trust to do the job?
Assumptions and remote work
Let’s look at this from another angle, one that is top-of-mind for everyone right now. Remote work.
There are certain assumptions we all make about those who work from home, especially those who did so well before COVID-19. Perhaps it’s that they mess around most of the time. Or they aren’t as productive as those in the office.
Maybe we’ve internalized the biases of popular culture. Maybe we’re just jealous that we didn’t get to work from home, too.
But, due to these assumptions, managers who are sending their employees to work virtually might be thinking, “How do I know this person will be as productive when working from home?” This is the story we tell ourselves about the work-from-home employee.
In either work scenario, the manager could end up questioning the employee’s capabilities, even without any kind of catalyzing event. It is very easy to fall victim to negative thinking and to lose perspective, especially during the times we find ourselves in.
Assumptions of employees
On the other hand, employees have assumptions, too!
These days, it’s that the corporations, the machines, the “man” doesn’t care about you. It’s that managers won’t understand if you make a mistake. It’s that you can’t trust the people around you to have your back or correctly do the task you give them.
How does this culture spread?
In this case, it often starts from the top.
As managers make assumptions about employees, those assumptions create a breakdown in the communication process. They begin to react to employees, not with understanding, but with anxiety.
Employees react in kind. A certain reaction from management is expected and then delivered. Trust erodes from the workplace, communication breaks down, and the wheels of the machine get all gunked up.
No one trusts each other to do the right thing, to do a good job, or to interact positively.
Throw in the wrench of COVID-19, and things are all sorts of crazy. Everyone’s working remotely, assumptions about regular work are meshing with those about virtual work, and it’s possible that productivity has suffered.
What it comes down to is this: remote work is new to most of us. Everyone is doing the best they can to adjust and cope.
So, what do we do from here?
Check your assumptions at the door. Part of creating a healthy workplace culture is having open communication. Assumptions like these create tensions, anxiety, and stifle communication.
Trust is essential.
Employees must trust their managers, and vice versa. This is how work gets done. Specialization. If the cogs in the machine are not lubricated and aligned – they don’t work. We’ve all been in workplaces where the machine just. Did. Not. Work.
If the assumptions are correct, and the actual person is not able to do the job (or not fully capable of it), what are you going to do to help your employee be productive and effective?
It starts with trust.
Trust starts at the top
If management is able to put aside its assumptions and treat employees like they’ll be productive and effective, it is more likely that the outcome will be positive.
If you are able to show your employees that you trust them, they will show up.
As people work from home, it’s important to show this trust even more. Provide employees with resources to help them be the best they can be. It could be anything from additional training to enhanced communication to a kind gesture.
If employees truly feel that they are trusted, they will begin to trust back.
At the end of the day, though, it comes down to execution.
Practical things to do to enhance employee productivity
As employees continue to work from home, many without a known end-date, it’s important to do what you can to enable them to be as productive as possible. Some practical, low-hanging fruit includes:
- Providing proper equipment – ergonomic chairs, hardware.
- Providing program resources – software programs or plug-ins and integrations for a CRM
- Providing educational resources and additional training
- Extra communication with management
- Additional opportunities to connect socially with co-workers
- Programs for stress-management and/or mindfulness or meditation benefits
It’s important, however, to make sure that there is follow-through. Trust is slow to build and quick to break. It only takes one slip for employees to go back to believing that management has it out for them.
Truly, companies are made up of teams. Nothing works without everyone pitching in and doing their part. It’s easy to forget that when things become a slog. It’s easy to blame the problems on ineptitude and bad hiring policies.
At the last
In these scenarios about assumptions, it’s always possible that the assumptions turn out to be true. It’s possible, sometimes, that a bad egg has been hired. In these cases, it may not make sense to spend additional resources on problem not likely to be solved that way.
A quote from says that
Hiring is guessing, and firing is knowing.
Gary Vaynerchuk