Businesses find productivity levels ‘somewhat to very effective’ under WFH arrangements

The majority of businesses participating in the Jamaica Productivity Centre, JPC, surveys on alternative work arrangements consider the impact of work-from-home or WFH arrangements on productivity as either somewhat or very effective, but only a minority expressed interest in continuing full WFH arrangements after the pandemic has passed.

Instead, employers say a hybrid arrangement will likely emerge that limits the number of days of remote work.

Of the 81 firms surveyed by the JPC on the impact of alternative work arrangements on productivity, 43 per cent indicated that the implementation of work-from-home or WFH arrangements proved very effective for business operation, another 49 per cent found the arrangement to be somewhat effective, while six per cent felt it was somewhat ineffective, and two per cent very ineffective.

Preliminary data obtained by the Financial Gleaner from the JPC study, conducted over 2020 and 2021, comes amid reports of employers being in two minds about whether work-from-home policies should remain in effect or be thrown out as the Government loosens restrictions on gatherings.

With 49 per cent of businesses lukewarm in their response, and another eight per cent giving the thumbs down to WFH, the Jamaica Employers Federation, JEF, has read the results of the survey as confirmation of its own assessment that in the main business heads were unhappy with the performance of employees since the shift to remote work started back in March 2020 to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“I’m not surprised by the data at all. It seems to be saying that the majority are not sure about the work-from-home arrangements and that there need to be improvements if they are going to consider the arrangement over the long term,” JEF President David Wan said in an interview with Financial Gleaner on Friday.

Responses from employees working from home contradicted what employers thought of their performance, with most arguing that it improved their productivity. Another 42 per cent were of the view that working from home or in office would result in the same performance level.

A work-from-home order became effective in Jamaica on March 18 last year, requiring employees who undertake duties that can be carried out outside of the traditional office setting across the public sector to work from home to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The order expired on May 31, 2021, but was later replaced for public sector workers, while private sector employers were urged to continue to make allowance for some of their staff to also work from home.

The mandate came to an end on December 31, and since then the Government has announced further relaxation of COVID-19 measures, including reduction of curfew hours, elimination of travel-related quarantine, and the resumption of full face-to-face learning – all of which indicates that the Government may not seek to reimpose its work-from-home mandate.

Still, private sector organisations that have found the performance of their WFH employees favourable have been developing remote-work policies with the intent of continuing the arrangements after the pandemic has passed.

In the JPC survey, 75 per cent of organisations indicated that they are considering keeping alternative work arrangements after the pandemic, and of that 31 per cent specified that they would consider continuing work-from-home arrangements.

Others are more interested in incorporating reduced hours in office, staggered shifts, flexitime, flexible work sites and a compressed workweek as part of work arrangements moving forward.

“The truth is that some people need to have their co-workers at close range to bounce ideas off and get feedback, especially if the team members are working on a project or if they are in a career like insurance and need to be constantly motivated by peers and so. Some also prefer a structured work environment, instead of just moving from the bedroom to a work area in the house and then back to the bedroom,” Wan said.

The study found that the main inhibitors to implementing full work-from-home arrangement were reported to be infrastructure, according to 38 per cent of respondents, while 19 per cent thought the low productivity output was related to the mindset of employees.

Employers who indicated that flexible working arrangements did not help productivity reported that the proper infrastructure was not in place to facilitate WFH arrangements. They also cited difficulty in coordinating activities with employees, challenges with employees accessing restricted files, inconsistent monitoring of work activities, and a lack of work discipline by some employees.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Jamaica, and the implementation of work-from-home arrangements, some 60 per cent of businesses had found the performance of their staff acceptable under flexi-work arrangements. But, with the addition of work from home as one of the options for employees, the ratio has since fallen to 47 per cent.

Among the individuals who were interviewed, 42 per cent thought that level of frustrations or the number of distractions increased due to the flexi-work arrangements, while 35 per cent thought it lowered the frustrations or distractions.

“So it’s not a matter of removing work-from-home as an option for employees, but better management of it. Businesses that prepared themselves for work from home and had documented procedures for work from home would find the situation acceptable but if the situation is informal, then they are potential problems,” said John Mahfood, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The JMEA in its own assessment has found that employees working from home over an extended period often find themselves distracted by the children, most of whom were doing remote learning. In other situations, employees have started prioritising personal objectives, such as taking on a second job or furthering their studies.

“These situations tend to happen when you don’t have clear rules and guidelines for work from home. I believe there should certainly be a hybrid situation moving forward,” Mahfood said.

Wan is in support of hybrid work arrangements moving forward, adding that work-from-home arrangements can benefit both the organisation and employees.

Among the reasons respondents who thought work-from-home arrangements improved productivity were that employees were able to achieve more work from home due to fewer distractions, have an improved work-life balance, reduced time spent in daily commute, and the implementation of more efficient systems to collaborate on shared tasks.

Businesses have also been benefiting from lower overhead costs.

“It’s a mixed bag, lots of considerations, but in general I expect to see a slight reduction in work-from-home arrangements as the economy returns to normal and an increase in hybrid work policy as opposed to the full five days working from home,” Wan said.

karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com