Productivity paranoia making hybrid work unsustainable: Microsoft

Amid the debate on moonlighting by tech employees who are working from home after more than two years of the pandemic, a Microsoft report has revealed that 85 per cent of business leaders say that the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being productive.

As some organisations use technology to track activity rather than impact, employees lack context on how and why they’re being tracked, which can undermine trust and lead to “productivity theatre”.

“This has led to productivity paranoia: where leaders fear that lost productivity is due to employees not working, even though hours worked, number of meetings, and other activity metrics have increased,” according to the Microsoft’s ‘Work Trend Index Pulse’ report.