Robson Beaudry's Profile

I think another key mechanic of Bloom’s research is the cultural context, both of the company and the larger society in which it takes place. When I worked in China, I saw a lot of companies where “busy work” was the norm. Productivity was expressed in terms of time spent in the office, not necessarily output. I can also think certain organizations in Canada and the US where this tends to be true (particularly in government). In cases like these, one would expect to see a large increase in productivity because employees are incentivized to complete their work early, and not drag it out throughout the day (as would be the case in their office).

However, for many professionals in high work/high stress roles, I would expect this effect to be much more negligible. I really appreciate you bringing your own data into this as well. Because my days are less structured, I’ve also started collecting data on my work habits in order to optimize for this new environment. It would be interesting to see if this is a common trend…