Office Buzz. Productivity paranoia

Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index research is out and it shows a growing employer-employee disconnect on the issue of returning to office and on productivity. The data gleaned from a survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries and analysing trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, along with LinkedIn labour trends and Glint People Science findings shows a big discrepancy between how employees feel about productivity and how leaders perceive it. While 87 per cent of employees said they were productive even working from anywhere and productivity signals across Microsoft 365 did climb, 85 per cent of leaders said the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being productive. The report urges that decision makers must make three pivots – first, end productivity paranoia, two, ensure connectedness among people, and three, invest in reskilling.