Working from Home: Great for Knowledge Work

One of the few positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic is the recognition by many individuals and companies that work can be effectively accomplished remotely or online. Some companies like SAS (software) have been doing it successfully for years, offering their employees greater work-life balance, attracting top talent, and decreasing their facility capital costs at the same time. There is certainly room in many industries to harness these benefits by employing more work from home.

But it's important to keep in mind the limitations of this trend. Working remotely works great for “knowledge workers.”  Peter Drucker coined this term in 1952 to refer to the growing number of occupations involving “the ability to acquire and to apply theoretical and analytical knowledge.” Doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, scientists, and managers are good examples. An accountant can certainly prepare tax returns from a home office. An author can write an article (like this one) from anywhere. Telemedicine is well underway. However, the proportion of knowledge workers is only about 30% in developed countries (Arthur, DeFillippi, & Lindsay, 2008). Restauranteurs, hoteliers, construction workers, professional athletes, entertainers, first responders, factory workers, mechanics, airline pilots, soldiers, plumbers, electricians…the list goes on…just can't work very well from home. Even amongst the 30% who are knowledge workers, many professions require access to specialized equipment or close collaboration with others to do their job. Scientists need laboratories. Creatives need social-organizational structure and a conducive physical environment (Dul, Ceylan, & Jaspers, 2011). Discounting our knowledge worker group by these individuals suggests that only around 20% to 25% of the economy may benefit from remote work.

During an emergency like the pandemic, the shift to remote work wherever possible makes great sense. The question becomes which areas are best suited for retaining the remote workforce once the emergency subsides? For this, I would return to Dr. Drucker who identified six key factors driving productivity in knowledge work (Drucker, 1999).  These are:

1. Ability to define your own tasks
2. High level of autonomy in task performance
3. Opportunity for innovation built into the job
4. Opportunity for learning (and teaching) built into the job
5. Quality of output more important than quantity of output
6. Worker considered a valuable asset and not a cost

Where these factors apply equally well to jobs performed remotely as to jobs performed in the office, that's where I would recommend continued or increased opportunity to work from home.

References

Arthur, M. B., DeFillippi, R. J., & Lindsay, V. J. (2008). On Being a Knowledge Worker. Organizational Dynamics, 37(4), 365-377.

Drucker, P. F. (1999). Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge. California Management Review, 41(2), 79-94.

Dul, J., Ceylan, C., & Jaspers, F. (2011). Knowledge Workers’ Creativity and the Role of the Physical Environment. Human Resource Management, 50(6), 715-734.