Employees say they are more productive remotely, while execs push for RTO

“Remote is a great lifestyle, not a way to build a great company.”

“The people that come fix your house, they can’t work from home, but you can? Does that seem morally right?”

“Some remote employees aren’t working hard at all, and it’s unfair to the rest that are.”

It’s been three years since the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in the age of remote work. While some companies have fully embraced work-from-home, we’re seeing more headlines claiming that “remote work doesn’t work.”

That remote workers are less productive.

The majority of these perspectives arguing for a return-to-office (RTO), however, have come from the C-suite.

I wanted to hear from individual employees.

LinkedIn professionals say they are more productive when remote

I surveyed my LinkedIn network and asked, “Are you more productive at work when you’re in the office or when you’re remote?”

(I included the following disclaimer to avoid biasing results: “I don’t think there’s one correct answer here—everyone has a different working style and that’s okay.”)

I received 352 responses to this survey and the majority of folks believe they are more productive when they are remote.

In total, 74% of LinkedIn survey respondents said they are more productive when remote, 17% said they are equally productive wherever they work, and only 9% of employees said they are more productive in the office.

Of the 33 professionals that said they are more productive in-office, there were a wide range of titles represented—from copywriter to Director of Marketing. The 259 employees who said they are more productive when remote included a similar range of titles—from Customer Service Rep to Engineer to CEO.

Executives choose RTO with little input from employees

While many professionals consider themselves most productive when remote, the power to change flexible work policies still remains with executives—60% of which say that they’re designing these policies with little to no direct input from employees.

According to a survey from Slack’s think tank, Future Forum, 38% of executives prefer to work from the office 3-4 days a week, while less than a quarter of non-executives prefer the same.

What works for execs might not work for everyone.

Working moms, neurodivergent folks, single parents, caregivers of elderly parents, introverts, people with disabilities or social anxiety, larger bodies, and many other underestimated groups benefit from remote and hybrid work environments.

Executives and owners, I’d like to hear from you.
Much of the “Return to Office” debate creates an Us vs. Them mentality. I’d like to bridge that gap and shed light on the C-suite perspective as well. If you are a founder or C-suite member, please share your opinion via this Google Survey. All responses will be anonymized. Thank you in advance for sharing!

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