Why We Might Want to Meet Face-to-Face

Laura Vanderkam has written a good article for Fast Company about the value of face-to-face communication.  She examines the science behind why in-person communication may be more beneficial than virtual meetings at times. 
 

Vanderkam points to one particularly interesting study by Juliana Schroeder, Jane Risen, Francesca Gino, and Michael Norton. They found that, "Handshakes are particularly consequential nonverbal gestures in negotiations because people feel comfortable initiating negotiations with them and believe they signal cooperation." The scholars discovered that handshakes lead to more cooperation in a negotiation. That collaboration helps people grow the pie, i.e. achieve potential win-win outcomes. Moreover, the handshake led to more honest behavior. People were less likely to lie about their interests after exchanging a handshake with another party. 

Vanderkam points out several other benefits of face-to-face communication.  You can read nonverbal cues more easily, and frankly, you are more attentive as it becomes much more socially awkward/inappropriate to multitask in person.  In other words, you are simply less likely to look at your laptop, tablet, or phone if you are in a face-to-face meeting than in a virtual setting. 

Does Working From Home Improve Productivity?

Stanford researchers Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts, and Zhichun Jenny Ying have conducted an interesting new study regarding the benefits and costs of working from home.  The scholars conducted an experiment at Ctrip, a Chinese travel agency.  They randomly assigned call center employees to either work from home or work in the office for a nine month period.  What did they find?  Those employees who worked from home experienced a 13% performance increase.  A portion of that increase came from working more minutes per shift (i.e. they took fewer breaks and fewer sick days).  The other portion derived from taking more calls per minute.   The attrition rate for home workers dropped significantly in this study.  These workers also appeared more satisfied with their jobs.   Did quality suffer though?  It did not.  The home workers appeared to be more productive, while not sacrificing the quality of their work. 

Does this mean that home workers always will be more productive?  Not necessarily.   We have to be careful about generalizing these findings.   This study pertained to call center workers.  We may find that other types of work do not experience the same increases in productivity.  For instance, perhaps some forms of work require much more intense coordination among members of a team.  In those instances, home working may bring more challenges and may not lead to productivity increases.  It would be terrific to see a new study examining a different type of work. 

Is Telecommuting Effective or Not?

Christopher Shea of the Wall Street Journal reports on a new research study by E. Glenn Dutcher in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.  Dutcher examines the work of telecommuters through an experimental study.  He finds that their productivity depends on the type of work that they are doing.  If the work is rote and repetitive, then people tend to be more productive in the office than at home.  However, if they are performing creative tasks, then they appear to be more effective at home.   The evidence suggests that an informal work environment may be more conducive to creativity. 

I would add a bit more to this interpretation.  I think the lower productivity for rote work conducted at home may be accounted for by the fact that one has many other options for how to use your time at home.  If you have boring work to do at the office, you may be constrained in your ability to procrastinate while doing other more enjoyable activities.  On the other hand, when you are at home, there may be many more desirable activities that you can pursue instead of the repetitive work associated with your job.