In a leaked message to Tesla employees in late May, Elon Musk roared, 'Remote work is no longer acceptable.'
When the email's legitimacy was proven on Twitter, the richest man in the world reinforced his position by stating that remote workers 'should pretend to work somewhere else.'
It turns out that remote employees do appear to work quite a bit, but it is difficult labor.
A new analysis of GitLab and Qatalag gives it a number: Knowledge workers spend an additional 67 minutes per day performing tedious chores online to show their superiors and coworkers that they are available and engaged in work.
It's exerting pressure. More than half of the 2,000 knowledge workers surveyed (54%) said they felt pressured to demonstrate their online presence by responding to emails and Slack messages, adding comments to Google Docs, or updating project management tools.
It is a fresh chapter in the evolving story of remote work and demonstrates that leaving the (physical) workplace isn't always the easiest way to leave the presenteeism culture.
Digital presenteeism' is the remote equivalent of traditional presenteeism, in which employees remain at their desks to demonstrate to their managers that they are working.
The research states that this visibility is crucial to preventing digital presenteeism, whether it entails 'responding to messages, or sitting in Zoom sessions you don't need to attend.' Additionally, it does not lead to better work output, similar to office presenteeism.
The concerns about keeping your Slack status active are not baseless. Besides Musk, several CEOs have loudly expressed their conviction that face-to-face collaboration is superior.
David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, refers to remote work as 'an aberration.' In contrast, Chris Merrill, the CEO of capital market firm Harrison Street, believes that remote work is inferior to the office in terms of learning professional development and fostering upward mobility.
He said that younger workers must be brought in and encouraged to work hard and collaborate.
Seven in ten people who work asynchronously—during the times that suit them best, which may not always coincide with when their coworkers are online—experience this pressure the most keenly and express intense levels of fear that people won't realize they are working.
The risks of empty presenteeism are significantly higher for employees who are reluctant to request time off when they are ill but show up at work when unable to function fully.
People with lengthy COVID are 54% more likely to participate in presenteeism or show up at work when they are unable to fully function, according to a March report from the international consultancy firm WTW, Fortune reported.
Furthermore, it's not just a problem for those who have bosses; 68 percent of C-level executives said they had the same pull.
63 percent of employees think their company leaders 'prefer a conventional culture with employees in the office,' which should be their cue to introduce change. They may feel that portraying themselves authentically online is the closest thing to being in person, which is why they may be pressured to do so.
To prevent the perception that they aren't working hard enough, employees report spending an additional 67 minutes online each day.
This adds up to more than five and a half hours every week. Only 25% of respondents indicated they were highly productive during that extra period. Even worse: Neither the employee nor the business benefit from those hours.
Flexibility is the key to generating high-quality work. When given the option to work flexible hours, more than 80% of respondents said they are more productive and produce work of a higher caliber.
They also concur that being online at particular times solely for the sake of being online is counterproductive.
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