Microsoft’s study of 61,100 employees found that “remote work caused the share of collaboration time employees spent with cross-group connections to drop by about 25% of the pre-pandemic level.”
The study was carried out in the hopes of determining the effects of remote work on employee performance. As part of the study, data on emails, calendars, instant messages, video/audio calls, and workweek hours were analyzed.
Based on the results, Microsoft argues that the shift to remote work caused the company to become more siloed and less interconnected; therefore making teams and the company less dynamic.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft carried out the study in the early days of the pandemic, when panic was still high and people had no experience with working remotely.
Things have drastically changed since then. Workers across the board have mastered remote work; teams have learned to leverage the right platforms and tools to collaborate; and communication efforts have improved dramatically.
