Study: People Working From Home Are More Productive

Letting people work from home saves a lot of energy and keeps people off the roads. However, many still call it “shirking from home” and are not convinced that people who do it are as effective or productive as those who go to the office. Klint Finley at Wired points to a new study done at China’s largest travel agency, CTrip. The company was concerned about the high cost of Shanghai real estate and the high attrition rate among its call center workers.

Workers on the same shift with the same manager were broken into two groups, one working in the office and the other at home. The WFH (work from home) group had a 13% increase in performance, 9.5% of which came from working more minutes per hour (fewer breaks and sick days) and the balance from doing more calls per minute, attributed to quieter working conditions. The job attrition rate dropped by half.

The company also calculated that it saved $2,000 per employee in office costs. Surprisingly, when the experiment was over, almost half of those who were working from home in the experiment asked to come back to work in the office; the ones who performed best at home were the ones who preferred to stay at home. Clearly WFH doesn’t work for everyone. But giving people the choice of home or office improved everyone’s performance.

(Link to PDF of study by Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts and Zhichun Jenny Ying here.)

Do you have any personal experience with working from home? Are you more or less productive? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

By Lloyd Alter, TreeHugger

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Lyn S.

5:45PM PDT on Sep 13, 2012

There have been days when I simply haven't been able to get my job done in the office (phone calls, people stopping by to ask for things or for help with something they're doing, regular fire drills, etc, etc). Fortunately my boss knows that I do actually work when I say I'm working from home and will accept my requests to take things home to complete. The actual hours I work are my own choice, so I usually start later in the morning that I would at the office - so long as the work is done, everyone's happy.

September 13
send a green star

Mac C.

11:36AM PDT on Sep 12, 2012

Nice to have that choice. Good article. Thank you.

September 12
send a green star

Terry V.

9:59AM PDT on Sep 9, 2012

thank you

September 9
send a green star

Christy P.

3:05AM PDT on Sep 8, 2012

I used to work from home most of the time - and I can confirm you get FAR more done, and better, than at the office. There's not a colleague who wouldn't agree with that. I will say this, though: I'd have gone insane if we didn't have regular meetings at the office; you need the contact with your co-workers, if just for a good round of gossip!

September 8
send a green star

Berny p.

10:12AM PDT on Sep 7, 2012

I can well believe that. Usually far less distractions.

September 7
send a green star

Marie W.

10:38PM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

With smartphones in the office- few are working.

September 6
send a green star

JL A.

9:11PM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

For most projects and tasks, it is more productive--but it is also important to ensure good communication with co-workers, colleagues and supervisors is built into how it is done.

Elaine A.

7:28PM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

It really takes an individual who is highly disciplined, that will not succumb to distractions of any kind. Or, if working for a company... ethical as well due they are paying you for work that they are assuming that you are doing rather than watching TV etc...

Phillipa W.

6:02PM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

I'd prefer to work from home if it was an option.

Brad W.

10:36AM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

That's a tough one, most of the time I think I am more productive when I am in the office.