Canonico’s research indicates that the performance-related benefits of telework decrease over time. After collecting data from more than 500 employees of a British organization, she determined that “The benefits of working from home disappear over time for both employees and organisations if it is a full-time arrangement…While previous studies have demonstrated that home workers are more productive than office-based workers,…[this study] shows that on a long term basis, there are no differences between home and office workers. The reason, according to Dr. Esther Canonico from LSE’s Department of Management, is that employees no longer see home working as a discretionary benefit or a ‘privilege’ when it becomes the ‘norm’ in an organisation. Dr. Canonico says: ‘The study showed that some home working employees feel resentful that employers don’t pay their utility bills, or cover stationery costs, for example. Some managers, on the other hand, feel home workers take advantage of the situation…Some of the downsides of home working are an increased sense of professional isolation and a decrease in sharing knowledge with colleagues. It’s not for everyone but it is becoming entrenched into our working culture.’”
“Home Working Loses Its Appeal Over Time for Both Companies and Staff.” 2016. Press release, The London School of Economics and Political Science, http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2016/09/Home-working.aspx.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.