Telecommuters play more golf during work hours and catch up earlier or later in the day. Getty
Remote workers take inspiration from students. Rather than working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., they spread the work over off-peak hours. This means that late afternoons, for example, are ideal for doing something fun. If you plan to work later at night, after all, why not?
One of the beneficiaries of the shift to remote work, it seems, is golf courses. According to Stanford researchers, working from home “has fueled a huge boom in golf.”
The researchers, Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, studied Inrix company data for more than 3,400 golf courses and shared their findings in a recent research paper titled “How Working From Home Boosted Golf.”
Comparing Wednesday in 2022 to the same day in 2019, they found a 143% increase in the number of golfers playing more golf on that day, and a 278% increase in the number of golfers playing that day in the middle of the week. ‘afternoon.
The most likely explanation, they write, is that “employees play golf during breaks while working from home.”
But that doesn’t mean productivity suffers, they note. “If employees are catching up later, “then that doesn’t reduce productivity. Indeed, national productivity during/after the pandemic has been strong. »
And, they note, the change also benefits golf courses: “Golf courses are being used more and more by spreading play over the day and week, avoiding peak loads on weekends and before / after work. This will increase “golf productivity” – the number of golf courses played (and revenue generated) per course. »
But, Bloom noted in a Tweeter on March 11, working from home entirely remotely “is on the decline. Some jobs become hybrid as bosses bring employees back 2 or 3 days a week.
As Fortune reported in January, more CEOs, including at Disney and Starbucks, are demanding that workers start returning to their jobs.
In the long term, Bloom estimates, hybrid work-from-home arrangements will account for 50% of jobs, fully in-person 40% and fully remote 10%.
As a result of the change, he says, the economy has been “twisted” in some ways. He noted in a Tweeter Thursday: “Downtown office, transit and retail use reduced on Tuesday-Thursday, causing peak load issues. Leisure, sports and suburban shopping expanded to the whole week, easing their pre-pandemic Sat-Sun peak load.
Not all bosses are against the idea that employees who work remotely take time out for entertainment during work hours.
Stephanie Cunningham, a 27-year-old marketer, told the New York Timesthat her employer is in favor of her logging on earlier or later in the day to free up time during working hours for other things, such as getting her hair done or running errands: “My boss lets me to take time for me, as long as I do my job.
Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary recently told CNN that managers need to change strategy given the shift to remote working, noting that a “new generation” of employees have never worked in a desk.
He said 44% of employees in his portfolio of companies were working remotely, but it “didn’t change anything” in terms of productivity.
“You say to someone, ‘Look, you have to do this by next Friday at noon. You don’t really care when they do it…as long as it’s done.
