Microsoft CEO Nadella: don't take it for granted that employees are more productive in the office

Sina Science and Technology News Beijing time on October 18 morning news, it is reported that Microsoft's latest survey found that whether telecommuting can improve efficiency, employers and employees still have differences.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, says companies should judge employees' performance by data, rather than assuming that they must be more productive in the office.

The company's latest Work Trends Study study surveyed more than 20,000 people in 11 countries and found that 87 percent of employees think telecommuting or a combination of telecommuting and office work is more efficient. In contrast, 85% of leaders believe that mixed working styles make it difficult for them to judge whether employees remain productive or not.

"more than 85% of employees or professionals think they are efficient," Nadella explains. "but more than 85% of managers think efficiency needs to be improved."

"so there is a contradiction. I think the best way to bridge this contradiction is not to follow dogmatic thinking, but to refer to more data. instead of arguing, we should use data to advance the matter." "this is a structural change," he said. "although this is a post-epidemic era, everyone is exercising the flexibility they gained during the epidemic."

Many reports and surveys released over the past year have shown that the vast majority of workers would rather leave than return to offline work five days a week. At the same time, business leaders are stopping this trend. Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, for example, require employees to return to work offline and restrict telecommuting.

Microsoft has a mixed office policy that allows employees to spend up to 50% of their time telecommuting. After this limit is reached, you need to apply to the manager separately. According to a survey by McKinsey in June, about 58% of Americans can choose to telecommute at least one day a week.

Although many people prefer to work from home, some companies still firmly believe that efficiency can only be maintained by working in the office. Microsoft calls this "efficiency paranoia".

Nadella believes that to resolve this disagreement, leaders need to set clear corporate goals.

"I think to deal with this situation, we should make sure that leaders and managers are clear about the goals of the company or team and set norms for people to collaborate and communicate." He said.

Nadella called on executives to provide employees with the tools they need to succeed.

"as long as we can prove that we will empower our employees after we recruit them into the company, it will be of great help." He said.