Shifting to remote work raises many questions for managers and employees, especially when it happens quickly as a result of a crisis.
Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury, the Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, studies how location and geographic mobility affect worker productivity and innovation. His research also examines how companies benefit by allowing employees to work remotely.
Choudhury answered questions from participants in a recent installment of “Office Hours,” an Instagram series (@HarvardHBS) in which Working Knowledge makes experts available to Instagram users to ask questions about their research.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned in your research?
Choudhury: One of the most surprising things I've realized is how, in our personal and social lives, we use a lot of digital tools for communication. But in work, we still tend to use face-to-face meetings.
How does location or geographic mobility affect innovation?
Choudhury: Knowledge is often locked in a geography, and when a worker moves from one geography to the other, knowledge is often transferred and recombined with local knowledge.
What’s the best place to be most productive?
Choudhury: That's an interesting question. I feel the best place is where you get the most psychological satisfaction and that can be very different for every person.
What can organizations that haven’t made the change to remote work do, since they are behind?
Choudhury: Identify workers and tasks that can be done remotely, easily, comparatively, and then learn from these [experienced] remote companies, like GitLab and Zapier, who have mastered these processes to make remote work, work.
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Many parents are working and caring for kids at home. How can managers set expectations?
Choudhury: It's a great question. I feel managers should show a lot of empathy in allowing people to find their rhythm and settle down and the manager should also adjust their own personal timelines for when to expect stuff to get done.
How can I avoid the temptation to procrastinate when I work remotely?
Choudhury: We all do that, so don't feel bad about it. I feel the key is to set alarms and find a routine that works for you, so that you can get stuff done even when you have kids around and life is not normal.
Do you think companies will stick with remote work post-pandemic?
Choudhury: Companies might be tempted to go back to work as usual, but some workers might enjoy the flexibility in this timeframe and might start demanding flexible work as a long-term solution.
Doesn’t making employees work remotely save on utility expenditures?
Choudhury: If companies allow workers to live anywhere, they might save real estate costs, rental costs, electricity costs, and that might be huge if the company is based in a major metro.
What are the biggest obstacles for companies that want to allow remote work?
Choudhury: I feel the biggest obstacle is changing the organizational processes for how communication and coordination happens, but also the mindset of managers in thinking that people will not shirk and will be responsible.
Has coronavirus changed your remote work research at all?
Choudhury: I've started multiple projects, especially trying to understand how companies and workers are scrambling to adjust to this new way of working in a very short period of time.
How will operations change after COVID-19?
Choudhury: Many workers are picking up tools, such as Zoom and Slack, in this period. And even when they go back to physical work, they might use these tools for coordination and communication.
For more Q&A sessions with HBS researchers, follow @HarvardHBS on Instagram and look for the “Office Hours” story series. You can also follow HBS Working Knowledge on Twitter (@HBSWK) and Facebook.
About the Author
Kristen Senz is a writer and social media editor for Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
[Image: Tempura]