UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Follow publication

Member-only story

‘Working Backwards’ to finally make remote work… work

Adrian H. Raudaschl
UX Collective
Published in
20 min readJul 12, 2021
Cat holding up documents being distributed to a remote team over a video chat.
Working Forwards. Illustration by author

We are now working almost twice the number of unpaid hours at the office since the beginning of 2020 reports the UK Office of National Statistics.

Despite having gone through the most digitally mediated year of our existence, it appears even with extended working hours, we prefer this new normal. A Microsoft survey revealed that 73% of employees hope remote work options will continue, with some studies even suggesting we would even take a 7.8% pay cut for the privilege.

Though I enjoy my new flexible freedoms, I wonder at what cost they come. Specifically, how does working from home all the time impact our productivity and creativity?

Some evidence supports productivity gains by working from home, but the benefits don’t appear equally distributed. I’ve noticed news coverage tends to cite studies that focus on jobs with routine or repetitive tasks like working in call centres or could be attributed to panic working.

Only recently has research begun to look at jobs that require more complex or collaborative work. A study from Maastricht University and Erasmus University showed that being in-person was…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Written by Adrian H. Raudaschl

The thoughts and lessons of a physician turned product manager driving search and generative AI innovations.

Write a response