Your Mental Health Improves by Working Remotely. Here’s Why Your CEO Might Not Give a Damn.

How do you feel about remote work? If you’re like most people reading this, you’re a big fan.

Some studies report that 90% of full-time remote workers say that they were equally or more productive when working remotely. (Note: I intentionally emphasized the word “say.” Keep reading to find out why.)

86% of those looking for jobs would prefer to be in fully remote or remote-first work environments.

67% of workers find that the extra flexibility in their schedules makes a significant difference in their lifestyle.

And there’s new data from the Census Bureau showing that the share of people working from home tripled between 2019 and 2021 which indicates a move towards a flexible and remote working environment for corporations.

You might like working remotely, but your boss is probably not a fan.

If you’re working at a well-run company, then the people in your C-Suite are monitoring all of this data rather closely.

Unfortunately, they might be arriving at different conclusions than you are.

According to Axios, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stirred things up over the summer when he warned that workers would have to spend a “minimum of 40 hours per week” in the office … or find a new job.

David Solomon, the Goldman Sachs CEO, has been on a mission to return to the 5-day status quo.

And a survey with 200 New York-based C-Suite executives found that 76% of them believe in-person work is essential to the bottom line.

Bad News: Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a decline in productivity.

A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that non-farm labor productivity decreased 4.1% in the second quarter of 2022.

To make matters worse, output decreased 1.4% while hours worked increased 2.7%. (In other words, people worked 2.7% harder but generated 1.4% less results!)

So we have data showing that workers prefer remote/hybrid work and that they feel as though they’re more productive. But we also have data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics would indicate that productivity actually declined recently.

And let me assure you — if you’re working for a large corporation, your boss and your Human Resources department is pouring over all sorts of data about your productivity and output.

Based on the data they’re looking at, they might not be as big a fan of remote work as you are.

What’s the bottom line?

We’re still in a state of flux regarding remote and hybrid work. There’s data indicating that workers’ mental health and happiness is increasing as a result of the new, flexible work schedules.

Hopefully, mental health and happiness will outweigh productivity and output.

But if the CEO of your publicly-traded company has his or her $20 million exit package tied to a high stock price, and that hight stock price is tied to increases in productivity and output, then don’t be surprised if the CEO ignores the data showing an increase in your happiness.

Instead, they’ll be focusing on your productivity more than your mental health.

Higher productivity = higher stock price = bigger exit package for the CEO.

What kind of CEO will you be?

I’ve identified 5 different kinds of leadership styles that Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Indra Nooyi, Bill Gates and others have in common.

Which of the five leadership styles do you gravitate towards? Find out by taking my Leadership Styles quiz on the Unspoken Rules of Leadership website.

About the Author: Jamie Turner is an internationally recognized author, professor, consultant, and speaker who has helped employees at The Coca-Cola Company, Holiday Inn, Microsoft, Verizon and others do a better job leading, managing, and mentoring others. To have him speak at your event or organization, email him at: Jamie@JamieTurner.Live