A study shows no drop in productivity when hybrid working works

Hybrid Working and CoviD-19: How the COVID-19 Pandemic affected cross-company collaboration, creativity, and productivity

This adds to evidence that hybrid working offers benefits compared with all-office working. There are many unanswered questions. For example, it is not clear whether alternative hybrid working arrangements, such as three days a week at home and two days in the office have the same effects, for other countries and cultures. What the results might be for workplaces that require different levels of collaboration and creativity is also up for debate.

Ultimately, it is in employers’ interests to listen to what research says about creating happier and more productive workplaces. The recruitment and training costs for new workers can amount to US$20,000. Han says the company has expanded its hybrid working policy to include all of its employees after it went through a trial.

Employers and employees aren’t the only ones in this situation. Maintaining office buildings that are less populated versus fewer commutes, and the impact on the wider economy and the livelihoods of lower-paid people in the service sector are just a few of the social context issues that need to be considered.

For many, the COVID-19 pandemic was a large, uncontrolled experiment in adapting to different working practices. It’s not too late to put some science behind it.

Remote, in-person, and a hybrid of the two modes are considered to produce the best results. Previous work has shown that fully remote working has negative effects such as harming cross-company collaboration1 and reducing the generation of breakthrough ideas2. Evidence builds on existing evidence to indicate that there is less fear for employers when it comes to hybrid working. More research is necessary with such a complex topic.

Now, many employers want to roll back the home-working revolution amid fears that remote working harms productivity, creativity and collaboration. In some cases, they are mandating that employees return to fully in-person working, often to strident protests from their employees.

The Nature Podcast: Tracking Nature’s First Space Flight using Biomedical Data from SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission to the Orinoco River

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The meaning behind gigantic rock engravings alongside the Orinoco river has been discovered by researchers.

A comprehensive suite of biomedical data, collected during the first all-civilian spaceflight, is helping researchers unpick the effects that being in orbit has on the human body. Analysis of data collected from the crew of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission reveals that short duration spaceflight can result in physiological changes similar to those seen on longer spaceflights. These changes included things such as alterations in immune-cell function and a lengthening of DNA telomeres, although the majority of these changes reverted soon after the crew landed.