I just finished reading an interesting piece in the BBC’s Workforce section. Alex Christian examines the lack of productivity of working from home. The pandemic forced businesses to offer employees a remote-work option. Managers hoped that their workers would diligently perform their duties from home. Unfortunately, too many remote workers slack off. They do just enough to get paid. There are no prying eyes to see what the workers are doing all day long. Pundits call this lack of effort “coasting.” This is the epitome of dishonesty. Amar Bhide and Howard H. Stevenson in their Harvard Business Review article, titled Why Be Honest If Honesty Doesn’t Pay, observed:

Most of us choose virtue because we watn to believe in ourselves and have other respect and believe in us. When push comes to shove, hard-headed businessfolk usually ignore (or fudge) their dollars-and-cents calculations in order to keep their word…And for this, we should be happy. We can be proud of a system in which people are honest because they want to be, not because they have to be. Materially, too, trus based on morality provide great advantages. It allows us to join in great and exciting enterprises that we could never undertake if we relied on economic incentives alone.

Whether you are an employer or a remote worker this is article is must-read material. Alex offers in a reverse manner great advice as to how to stand out as a remote worker. While your co-remote workers are coasting you can be rocking. Take my word for it you will not be disappointed. Click the link, take a deep breath, and absorb everything.

The Coasting Workers