brid-WFH is often beneficial for both employees and firms, but is usually underappreciated in advance,” the study stated. The top table on page 31 shows the six-month attrition rate for the treatment group was 4.7 percent versus 7.2 percent for the control group, a 35 percent reduction. In the right panel, the researchers compared the impact of attrition between volunteers and non-volunteer groups, where the largest impact with a 48 percent reduction in quit rates (9.6 percent vs. 5 percent) in the volunteer group. The data build on quit rate results that are based on a survey of an anonymous firm. The researchers say a company’s treatment of their workers is more likely the cause for keeping them. Employees who believe their employers treat them well are willing to recommend their company to friends, have higher levels of work satisfaction, life satisfaction and work-life balance. Data show this most obviously in the third row, which measures satisfaction among the volunteer group. The authors say this finding is important because of increasing concerns of employee burnout. However, there is a caveat here, because the measurement focuses on volunteers for hybrid work. It can be presumed that because they already had a strong preference for working remotely, they would be more satisfied. The researchers say the larger gap relative to volunteering status comes from the higher quit rates in the control group rather than the lower quit rates in the treatment group, which they add “is likely driven in part by the fact that the volunteers had lower tenure, less managerial roles, and longer commutes.” Column five in the chart shows the expected attrition is lower for the treatment group, particularly those who initially volunteered. Less attrition means a more stable workforce. This can result in reduce training and hiring costs and a boost in productivity. Attrition Costs According to the HR department of Trip.com, its internal calculation suggests losing an employee and finding a replacement amounts to 21 percent of the employee’s annual salary. These costs include the productivity loss from position vacancies, HR department’s advertising, screening and interviewing, training employees and the productivity loss from them still learning and not being fully productive. The Stanford study also identified changing working hours and patterns. U.S. surveys find the primary reported benefit of working from home is reduced commuting and increased work schedule flexibility. Researchers found the employees had an increase usage of virtual private network (VPN) time, which was required to access company servers from home. The increases occurred most on employees’ remote working days, but increases also occurred on non-working days, such as holidays and weekends, suggesting employee were connecting during “off” hours. As far as workdays, the study showed a reduction of in-office workers occurred most on Wednesdays and Fridays. On the other hand, the use of the VPN is greater on those days by more than three hours. Another finding was a slight decline in the number of non-working days from sick-leave, holidays and absences within the treatment group. With about 250 working days a year, this translates into about two days fewer non-working days. The study found that fewer sick-leave days and honoring of holidays is what drove this reduction; they concluded workers who may take a day off from the office because of an illness, feel comfortable enough to work through the sickness at home. The research concluded that hybrid working has a small and potentially positive impact on employee productivity. Two indicators (performance reviews and promotions) show no impact, while two others (lines of code and self-assessed productivity impact) are positive. “While this result is somewhat inconclusive, it does rule out the large negative impacts on performance some of the detractors of working from home have claimed in public statements,” the authors wrote. J RESOURCES 0 2 4 VPN Use Time on Mon, Tues, Thurs & Weekend Source: Stanford University; Trip.com Source: Stanford University; Trip.com What are the top 3 b n fi s of working f om home? Source: www.wfhresearch.com Hours Percent of respondents 2021w18 2021w26 2021w35 2021w44 2022w1 Treated Control 0 2 4 Control Treated Control Treated 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 60.4 49.1 46.9 37.8 15.7 36.7 No commute Less time getting ready for work More tim with friends/family Flexible work schedule Quiet Fewer eetings 1 2 3 4 5 32 REMOTE WORK SOLUTIONS rwsmagazine.com
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