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Productivity Paranoia - Motivation Driven By Fear

Ever heard of "Work Smarter, not Harder"? This is that but backwards.



I am fortunate enough to have a release window for this article that lines up with Halloween, so naturally I figured why not lean into the fear factor and cherry-pick a topic that deals directly with that fear. Looking at the business world, there are lots of directions to take when it comes to fear. Companies fear losing money (rightfully so), employees fear losing their job (also rightfully so)... the list continues for a long while.


For anyone who enjoys horror movies, you'll know there are generally two types of "Scary" that everything falls into. First, there's the shock-and-awe "Jumpscare" that comes out of nowhere and is meant to immediately get a response. This is the sort of situation employees find themselves in when they are hit with mass layoffs, instantly scary and comes typically as a surprise. Still unsure what a "Jumpscare" is? Here you go (maybe lower the volume on this one, you were warned).


The other type of "Scary" is that sense of dread or paranoia that sits there creating an atmosphere you really don't want to be in. It's the fear you get where you believe something may happen if you don't act, but you're not really sure what to do to prevent that scary thing from happening. I would argue it's worse to sit through this than just rip the proverbial band-aid off and get the cheap scare, and it's exactly the type of fear we're covering here.



What does dread and paranoia look like in the workplace? It can take a few forms but it's very easy to identify by the symptoms you begin to notice. Low morale among the staff takes hold, burnout and employee turnover rates are high, and a large number of staff seemingly look for ways to not rock the boat to an absurd extent. For the most part, employers don't actively go out of their way to run their businesses through fear. Unfortunately, the current state of the job market has created a perfect storm for dread and paranoia to take hold, and it's not entirely driven by employers either.


To be brutally honest, jobs are extremely valuable right now, and keeping that job is very important for a large number of workers. Many are still trying to strike a balance between securing a good deal and cutting losses when it comes to employment terms, and Hybrid Work models are a major player in that game right now. Some companies have embraced the practice more than others, and those that find themselves in those Hybrid Work roles have ended up becoming the trailblazers showing industries the world over that the concept can work. With great power comes great responsibility however, and it's leading these Hybrid Work employees to experience what we are now calling "Productivity Paranoia", the perfect storm of dread and fear.


So what exactly is "Productivity Paranoia"? What steps can companies take to mitigate it? And what happens if it goes unchecked?


Photo by Andy Li on Unsplash


Big brother is watching


As I implied beforehand, employers are not the only driving force behind "Productivity Paranoia". The employee is as much a factor in the equation, like it or not. The relationship between the two has been largely the same as... uh... well... no it's been largely identical since business started being a thing people did. Employers want to get as much out of employees for as little as possible. Employees want to get as much out of employers for as little as possible. This has been constant and will remain constant, and I really don't feel like I blew anyone's mind here.


In a large number of industries, work structure looks like this:


1. The employee and their boss work in the same building.

2. The boss monitors the employee and maintains their level of productivity.

3. The employee does their best to look like they're giving their best effort.


Again, I don't think I knocked anyone's socks off. That being said, the Hybrid Work model throws point number one on that list straight out the window and makes point two exceptionally harder to achieve.



Mercifully, we live in a day and age where we can simply log onto a computer and be instantly connected to the rest of the world. It has blurred the lines of what it means to be in any company's particular office. Someone on the west coast could very well report and function as a member of the east coast team. That's the nature of remote and hybrid work.


With this connectivity comes tools that can be used to remotely monitor performance and productivity. This can take the form of reporting, check-ins, or software that measures performance metrics. It's not simply a matter of taking a walk past your team's workstations and seeing if people are slacking off. How much and how far this is taken depends on the employer and is a trust issue, but for the most part, companies try their best to do their due diligence.




What about that third point though...


The only part of the three-point program from above that is completely independent of location is the last one. A worker does not need to be tied to a location to give their best effort. Heck, I would argue that some people can do better work at home! There are people who focus better when people aren't around to talk to. There are people who can power through their stack of tasks better from the comfort of their couch. And most importantly, I would wager that a majority of people have enough pride in their work that they choose not to abuse their situation and actually care about the work they put out (again, they're setting the example for others on how this system can be successful).


This is all great, but how do you show it (point two from above)? It has been well documented that there are a large number of employers that are worried that their employees become less productive at home. Is there any need to make a show for the sake of optics? That answer has seemed to increasingly be "Yes", and it's leading to instances of burnout. People are willingly pushing themselves past their sustainable level of effort in an act of showmanship. It's ironically creating the opposite problem that initially caused the issue. And it's driven by paranoia.



You can't blame remote and hybrid workers for feeling the pressure to look extra-successful at their roles. There is more than enough material out there to suggest they are the first on the chopping block. You want to create that paranoia-soaked fear environment that people actively want to escape from? Keep feeding them content like this.


So what happens? These employees put on a show to signal they're doing their job and beyond! Extra meetings, extra deliverables, and additional checks and balances are all on the docket for them. And none of them are necessary. So why do them? Because it looks good! By kneecapping their own productivity, they appear to be doing more to the employer. On top of it all, the added workload leads to an overall decrease in quality of work and eventual burnout.


Long story short, "Productivity Paranoia" is a bad thing and should be avoided if possible.



Managing the situation


Reporting structures in the workplace are not going away anytime soon. The concept of the "Chain of Command" has been around for a very long time and it's extremely effective. To argue it should be dissolved (even in the face of remote work) would be unproductive. That being said, this structure should not be overbearing to the point of being an added stress. As is a typical thread in many of the situations I cover when manager-employee relations are concerned, communication is key.


So what are some of the best ways to mitigate Productivity Paranoia? There's three very good ones...



Set Expectations Early

Part of Productivity Paranoia is the act of "Putting on a show" to display to their manager that they are working hard. This often comes to be by way of extra tasks that fill time and kill time management efforts. By ensuring that expectations are clearly communicated, it means that there is not enough time to engage in the showmanship that comes with the paranoia. It also helps to set an easily measurable benchmark that, once the deadline arrives, will tell the story of whether the remote worker was completing their workload. Remove ambiguity, remove the paranoia.


Timelines for this may be lengthy. This leads me to my second point...


Trust Your Team

If you have a strong team and the people in that team know the task put forth to them, showing that you trust them can go a long way towards letting them flourish. Provide support where needed (as any good management team would) but trust will erode Productivity Paranoia faster than anything else. The less time someone has to spend accounting for the minutes of the day, the more time they have to put towards the task at hand. And really, if someone working remote takes five minutes to run a vacuum over the carpet while they're on hold, is that really worse than spending it tabulating what they did over the last three hours for the sake of reporting (especially if the workload got finished)?


Know Your People

Teams are made up of individuals, and each will work a different way to some extent. Some need a large amount of communication, check-ins, and support. Others can be sent on their way with their information and figure it out without so much as a text. Knowing how your team functions can help to enable them to work at their best. It is also SUPER useful in identifying changes of patterns and guiding you on where to focus your efforts. If a traditionally quiet player on your team is suddenly booked for two meetings per day where the norm would be two per week, they may be looking for assistance (and if they're working remote, they can't just come by and ask). These pattern changes can be a symptom of Productivity Paranoia; they're filling their schedule to mask the fact that they may not be making progress where it matters.



Crash and Burnout


In the event that Productivity Paranoia is not reigned in, it becomes a no-win situation. The above recommendations should go a long way to troubleshoot the issues, and mandating a non-hybrid work model is always an option (at the risk of losing team members that value it), but implementing any of these ideas isn't always in the cards...



First, we have the impact to the business. If someone is experiencing Productivity Paranoia, they are likely not spending their time where it needs to be. The desire to look productive actively limits their productivity, and you end up losing valuable time as a business. If you are accountable to external clients or stakeholders, delays caused by this can damage your brand reputation if ongoing issues persist. Managers that pass the accountability on to the person already experiencing the paranoia only serve to fuel further paranoia and the cycle continues to get worse.


And of course there's the personal side of the equation. No one likes feeling as if they are under a microscope, especially if the penalty for not performing is that their job is at risk. In workplaces that go through periods of project crunch, this issue can become even more severe; I spoke about horror movies earlier, and just imagine being in a horror environment while under pressure for 40 hours per week. It becomes mentally taxing and you lose your edge. Mistakes compound the feeling that you're not going to impress until you reach the point of burnout.


And nobody can be productive in a state of burnout.


Photo by JOYUMA on Unsplash


Be not afraid


Working from home is one of the true benefits that came to workers in lieu of the pandemic. We were forced to attempt it and have managed to make it work, and the positives that it offers cannot be denied. Understandably, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but options are always good, especially if they're options that work. That being said, it should not be a horror show. Ensuring that these employees are not left wondering as far as their job security and performance is just as vital as if they were still in the office. Productivity Paranoia is simply another one; it's one more bullet point on the list of bullet points that businesses have had to contend with in handling a changing work environment. As with any other obstacle, this one needs to be navigated correctly.


We can't be too hard on ourselves. Many of the forces behind work from home and hybrid models came about only a couple years ago and under the not-so-subtle pressure of a worldwide event. That being said, we in the workplace also shouldn't be too hard on ourselves. Put time into doing what you need to do and the results will follow. In order to gain the trust of those we report to, we need to be able to trust ourselves.


Trust yourself, you're doing good!



~IR


Are you working from home or on a hybrid schedule? How do you feel your reporting structure works for or against you? Or maybe you just have a comment to add? Check out the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn page and let everyone know. Don't forget to follow or like the page for updates! And share this article if you feel others should give it a read!


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