Thursday, May 13, 2021

Technology and Carbon Units

 


                      Technology and Carbon Units

Technology is often thought of as isolated, like a microscope or an electric fan. But interaction with a person complicates things a lot so that technology and people become something of an alloy where properties change. Here is an interesting study from Current Affairs:

"Using personnel and analytics data from over 10,000 skilled professionals at a large Asian IT services company, we compare productivity before and during the work from home [WFH] period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Total hours worked increased by roughly 30%, including a rise of 18% in working after normal business hours. Average output did not significantly change. Therefore, productivity fell by about 20%. Time spent on coordination activities and meetings increased, but uninterrupted work hours shrank considerably. Employees also spent less time networking, and received less coaching and 1:1 meetings with supervisors. These findings suggest that communication and coordination costs increased substantially during WFH, and constituted an important source of the decline in productivity. Employees with children living at home increased hours worked more than those without children at home, and suffered a bigger decline in productivity than those without children."

Increased time spent in similar production. 
Not what you would have thought.

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