It’s official. Remote working really does boost agent productivity, with the claim now backed up with new figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
They’ve found that workers in industries that quickly set up staff to work from home after the onset of the pandemic have driven up productivity levels in Britain.
Data from the ONS show output per job was recorded at 9.2% higher on average in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, before Covid struck.
And this figure excludes furloughed workers.
The ONS said: “This indicates that furloughed workers were more likely to work in lower productivity industries, with higher productivity individuals and industries still working to a greater degree, pushing up aggregate productivity.”
Sectors that were able to assimilate remote working into their operations were more likely to have a more productive workforce, with output per job in these industries likely to have been boosted by less time spent on commuting.
Output per hour worked in the first quarter of this year jumped 0.9%, which is compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Output per worker fell 4.7% quarter-on-year, driven by a high proportion of the workforce still being furloughed being counted in the statistics.
Industries most likely to have driven the strong productivity gains include financial and professional services, reflecting these firms’ ability to rapidly change their working practices without much disruption.
The productivity gains underlines the resiliency of workers to post strong performances in their jobs even amid the pandemic disruption.
