Highlights

—People who work from home have more consistent energy levels than when those same people worked in the office. 

—That consistency led to greater productivity because home offered fewer distractions.

—Workplace interruptions are more distracting than distractions at home.

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Employees want to work from home. Employers want them in the office. A new University of Iowa study suggests hybrid work may be an effective compromise. 

Researchers followed 219 hybrid workers at a single employer over a business week and compared the productivity levels of when they worked from home vs. the office. 

On work from home days, each person was more productive, making greater progress on their work goals, and working faster than on days they worked in the office. 

The more often they worked at home, the more their productivity increased. 

Why? 

Researchers asked the workers to log their energy levels every hour for those same five days. They found that on work from home days, their energy levels were more consistent throughout the day because they had fewer distractions and could more easily set their own schedule. 

On office days, their energy levels tended to be more variable because they faced so many distractions. 

“Those energy fluctuations at work prompted by more and varied stimuli can make it more challenging to dig into our work and make progress,” said Emily Campion, study co-author and associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Tippie College of Business. 

How does it affect their work?

The results were significant, too. Workers experienced about 33% less energy variability on days working from home compared to the office. Each one percentage point reduction in energy variability yielded 26% higher goal progress.

“Think about how much energy it takes to transition to a new task because someone comes to your office and asks for something,” she said. “Then you have to spend energy transitioning back into what you were doing before they showed up.”

Consistency matters

She said it’s not the case that working from home gives a worker more energy. It doesn’t. But the more consistent energy levels lead to more productivity than the ups and downs of working in an office. At home, a coffee shop, or some other non-office location, she said people have more agency over what disrupts them. They can ignore an email or turn off Slack notifications to enable deeper, more focused work.

The quality of interruptions also makes a difference, the study says. Workplace distractions like interruptions from co-workers, noises from other cubicles, or difficult commutes drain more energy than at-home distractions like schlepping laundry or telling the dog she’s a good girl. 

The takeaway

Given the push and pull between workers and management, Campion says the study suggests that employers should consider hybrid work to boost workplace productivity. 

Media Contact

Tom Snee
Media Relations Specialist

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