📉 Microsoft Report: Managers Don’t Trust Employees (Interesting Data)

Welcome to The Level Ups. Modern business news for the future business leader (explained in plain-Jane English).

Today:

Let’s get into it.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes & 30 seconds. Longer than usual, but worth it.

Managers with less control over a hybrid workforce are starting to get “productivity paranoia.”

It’s a label for bosses who feel like employees are not doing their job.

You KNOW this person.

Microsoft recently published a report on hybrid work (”hybrid” refers to a combination of working from an office and remotely).

Here’s just one key stat:

Supervisors with hybrid employees are less trusting than in-person managers. It was 36% and 49% respectively. If you work remotely and say 10 things to your boss, they will only trust 3-4 of them. Good luck working there.

There’s more. But first, let’s look at how Microsoft even got this data.

Microsoft interviewed 20,000 people in 11 different countries and analyzed trillions of data points pulled from Microsoft’s internal suite of productivity software (email, instant messaging, meeting software, docs and spreadsheets, etc.). This suite of products is called Microsoft 365, and it wasn’t the only source.

Labour trends were reviewed based on data from LinkedIn (which Microsoft owns) and findings from Glint People Science.

Microsoft also references reports from the U.S Department of Commerce about the greater economy (which is going down).

A lot of data, but was it worth studying?

Productivity paranoia feels like a direct reaction to “quiet quitting.”

First, it was about employees no longer going above and beyond at work (like they used to).

Now, it’s about managers being paranoid that employees are slacking off. It looks like they also read about quiet quitting and overcompensating.

This lack of trust had companies install tracking software to control remote workers. Shocker, now they have trust issues.

No, it didn’t work. Instead, “mouse movers” are a thing.

Surely there’s a better way.

There were three major recommendations in Microsoft’s report.

Some key stats:

How can they still disagree about who’s productive or not when meetings are up 153%? Do they not talk about this in all those meetings?

Ironically, more meetings mean less time to do the actual work. Productivity paranoia is a very annoying cycle.

The big issue here is the obviously missing clarity between leaders and employees.

So what’s Microsoft recommending?

For better or worse, modern HR practices won’t let a manager say, “you’re not working hard enough,” At least not anymore, especially if they want to fire someone over it. The exception is during probation, when they can fire you for pretty much any reason.

Outside the probation period, there needs to be proof and documentation (note: different rules for different countries).

Microsoft suggests formal metrics because a history of these numbers becomes an employee’s performance.

If the numbers are bad, then it’s clear who’s productive or not (exceptions may apply). This can address the clarity issue.

When both sides can see the numbers, there’s less room for managers to abuse their power and for employees to take advantage of remote work.

Has your boss given you key metrics yet? They’re coming.

The office is about community now. It’s for fun, not grinding in cubicles.

73% of employees said they need a better reason to go to the office than just company expectations.

Especially for younger employees, 63% of which aspire to be entrepreneurs. Gen Z is an important group to consider because they’ll be 30% of the workforce by 2030.

Naturally, they want companies that give them the flexibility to pursue side hustles.

Would your company be ok with employees working on side hustles? Most are probably not, even if they say they are (especially if working from home).

They will worry about employees neglecting their jobs to work on side hustles. It’s a real concern.

So what’s Microsoft recommending?

It just depends on whether a bigger workforce will appreciate a workplace community.

I actually agree. A little bit of fun (even if just once in a while), can make a big difference.

More on side hustles in the next section.

Re-recruit (basically) means creating better HR practices and re-selling them to existing employees.

Things like

So, what does Microsoft recommend?

Young people watch Mr. Beast make millions on Youtube (among other ventures).

IG influencers, Twitch streamers, OnlyFans, Patreon, and newsletters are all viable. Some make millions. If the company tells young people not to try these things, they'll leave.

Expect side hustles to come up at your workplace (if they haven’t already).

I will give most companies credit. Many remote employees take advantage of the setup.

But hiring practices are the root of the issue.

Maybe instead of hiring a full-time person for 40 hours a week, hire someone for 20 hours and use better software? Just an example.

When times are tough, productivity is critical. It doesn’t always have to be more bodies. Automation is another straightforward way to boost efficiency.

What’s better (the overall productivity is the same):

AI is moving us toward having one or two employees become hyper-productive. Hope that was your answer.

I talk about AI often, but not with HR. Mostly because people think that AI will take jobs. It’s a touchy subject, but an important one. And yes, AI will cut some jobs out of the workforce. But it’ll also position top talent to go even higher.

I'm going to test this out.

I’ll be testing out a new AI program to create digital ads. No designer, no other person, no office politics. Just three simple steps to go from nothing to a viable ad.

To do this, I’ll be talking to the team at Alvy:

The experiment is simple. I’ll use the product and calculate the cost and time savings. We’ll see if AI is better/faster, or if it’s still too early.

You can try it out as well. You can sign up here. It’s free for now, and you should get in after a few days.

I’ve spoken with the team, and they’re very responsive. It’s free, might as well. What if the ads are actually amazing, and making them takes just 5min?

Let me know if you do! Would love to see what you create.

Thanks for reading!

Darwin