IT’S TIME TO GIVE PRODUCTIVITY A NEW MEANING

When we think about productivity, we often imagine a scenario where we have a list of things to get done in a certain amount of time, and the faster we get these things done, the more productive we are. However, it seems like this definition is missing out on something, so let´s do a simple google search.

Productive: achieving or producing a significant amount or a result such as a long and productive career.

So, as you can see, this word immediately is used to describe efficiency in what pays our bills, but who is actually being benefited from this amount of productivity? Workers, or companies?

Well, to answer to that question, we need to first figure out what is making people more productive and what determines how efficient we can be.

A recent Stanford study found that working from home increased productivity among a group of 16,000 workers by 13% over the course of nine months. Attrition rates were also cut by 50%, with employees citing a quieter, more convenient working environment as a major advantage.

In recent years, the option of freelance gigs and now due to the current pandemic, working remotely, have switched the perspective of productivity. We no longer need to be at an office in a specific schedule. And what at the very beginning had employers terrified of their employee´s performance from home, turned out to show that those who switched to this new way of working performed much better than before.

Some started that working in later hours of the day, or after doing an activity that made them look forward to their day such as going to the gym, led them to feel relief and passion for their careers that they hadn’t felt in a long time.

We know that in the past two years a lot has happened. They´re still those who do not want to go back to work and rather still see the benefits of unemployment, and some found a new way to succeed by increasing their productivity and taking more than one job, claiming that they´re so happy that sometimes it doesn’t even feel like working and it´s more about having a balance in life.

All of this is leading to a new mind freedom era, almost like in the Woodstock times.

But, not everybody has hopped on this mindset and the still 9-5-ers are feeling like their time is being controlled by companies that haven´t understood that by paying for their time rather than their performance they´re sacrificing happiness and therefore, productivity. Not to mention, performance cannot be measured by time, and when you think about it… time, being the most valuable thing humans have, really shouldn’t have a price tag but that´s a topic for next time.