Remote work has replaced the traditional 9-5 workday. Employees work in short bursts during the night and between caregiving tasks. They also work when they have the time, despite the constant distractions from emails, calls and messages. However, new research shows that many people work at all hours of day for many teams. This means that almost all their tasks are done simultaneously. But is this really a problem? It all depends on what task it is. It depends on the task. For some tasks, it was easier to work simultaneously. However, for others, coworkers created distractions that made it more difficult to complete the tasks. This resulted in productivity rising during what was previously considered unproductive hours. Employees proved to be able to judge how to best manage their time and be productive. Managers still have lessons to learn. To establish expectations and norms, create a team charter. This should specify when the majority of the team will be together. However, it is important not to micromanage or force people to overlap. Let people be free to work from home.Nearly a year and half of decentralized collaboration has ended. Companies around the globe are redefining what it means to work. For many white-collar workers the pandemic has removed any distinction that may have been left.Leaders need to understand what happened in the work lives of their employees to restore balance and maintain productivity. Covid-19, unlike previous digital work technologies that were adopted first by the most senior executives (top-down) or employees in remote areas (outsiders), forced many offices to work exclusively on digital technologies. The change was unexpected and disorienting for both the worker and the manager, who had been used to working at a regular physical location from 9 AM to 5 PM. Companies must incorporate both positive and negative lessons from the pandemic year as hybrid and remote work options become more common. New norms are needed for work in the new normal.The concept of team overlap is a key factor in the establishment of these new work norms. It refers to the degree to which different team members work together. Regular work hours in the workplace usually guarantee a high level of overlap between one member of the team and the rest. This level of overlap is less common for remote or hybrid work.We studied the work habits of 187 employees from six Fortune 500 companies who have made the transition to remote work in 2020 to understand the implications and patterns of team overlap. These companies were all clients at Soroco, an enterprise-software company that focuses on understanding how teams interact digitally. Three of the authors also work there. Our sample included 22 different teams with an average of 10 workers. All these workers had previously established office locations and hours.We discovered a variety of patterns in team behavior. In particular, we found that there was overlap in the norms for hybrid and remote work. These trends are essential for understanding how to guide teams in new ways of working. These types of analyses can be used by managers to guide a digital team charter. This can preserve the flexibility and convenience of remote and hybrid work while addressing the practical and psychological downsides that many workers have experienced in the past year.Always on, but never togetherOur research confirms a well-known truth: The digital workday never ends. Individual team members work on average for 8+ hours per day. We use the conservative measure of being available to work as being online for at least 30 minutes an hour. Teams spend on average 45 minutes per hour at their computers, which is 6.1 hours of work over the course of a 24-hour workday (as shown in the first graph).Remote workdays are divided into two parts: an 8-hour window starting at 95, where team members work together, and a 16 hour window in which team members work separately. The first window sees team members working together with 5070% of their peers. The longer off-hours window sees team members overlap with 1050%, so they can be considered working separately.This graph shows us some important information.There are two peak times in the 9 AM5PM window, when there is the most overlap. One at 10 AM, and one at 3 PM. Outside of this range, there can be low ebbs but not enough time for everyone to be completely off. This insight contains four empirical observations which managers need to consider in remote and hybrid work. Digital workers work odd hours; the digital day is endless; the team is often not all together; and the midday constraints are more important during the digital working day.The digital day means working irregular hours alone. Although 95 of their regular work hours have survived the shift to remote work, they still make up only 60% of the overall work effort. On average, a team member spends 40% of their time working independently from their colleagues and outside regular work hours.The digital day is endless. We all know the phenomena of team members receiving emails at all hours of day from colleagues who work late or log on early. Our data shows that this phenomenon is not isolated. On average, 10+% of the team are available at 4 AM and working 30+ minutes per hour. The sample team includes 10.2 people. This means that at least one person is always available to work, regardless of what time it is.Digital teams rarely work together. We found a few digital teams that mirrored in-person work hours. This meant that 95% of the team was working online during normal business hours. This is not the norm. Average overlap across all 22 teams in our database is approximately 71% at 1011 AM and 60% at 34 PM. This means that on average, at least 29% are not online, regardless of what time of day it is.Fourth, midday constraints are important. After 10 AM, team overlap begins to drop gradually, reaching a peak in the 121 PM slot. Then, it recovers slowly for the 3 PM afternoon peak. The team takes breaks at different times during the day, which causes a slow decline and extended recovery. In the digital age, there is no social reason to have lunch together. People can now eat on their own.These changes make digital workdays psychologically and practically different from traditional office work.Is it really important to have a work schedule?What does this all mean for productivity?Although our data does not include time tracking before teams switched to remote work, the second graph shows that there is no correlation between hourly productivity and the time of day. Each member of the 22 teams that comprised our data set could choose when each task was completed. The result was that team members planned their work naturally so that they could achieve constant productivity.However, greater or lesser team overlap was an important factor in productivity. We looked at how hourly productivity was related to team overlap and found that our business processes fall into three categories. These categories are based on whether or not having other team members online can help or hurt certain tasks.41% of business processes had positive correlations with team overlap. Having someone to listen to you or help you understand how you do your work is helpful. We found that workers were almost 25% more productive when they worked on 95 than any other time in 16 of the 39 processes we examined. This work includes finalizing insurance rates, creating and appraising production plans, managing inventory changes, and managing the creation of those plans.It is often more productive to have a colleague to provide the input you need or help you understand how you do your job. We found that workers were almost 25% more productive when they worked on 95 than any other time in 16 of the 39 processes we examined. These tasks include creating and approving production plans, finalizing insurance rates, managing inventory changes, and creating and appraising insurance quotes. 33% of business processes had a neutral correlation with team overlap. In 13 of the 39 processes we examined, productivity didn't depend on whether members of the team were working simultaneously. Thus, it didn't seem to matter what time of day these tasks were completed. This could be used to create purchase orders, monitor supply-demand status and allocate warehouse space.13 of the 39 processes we examined showed that productivity didn't depend on whether members of the team were working simultaneously. It also didn't seem to matter when these tasks were completed. This could be used to create purchase orders, monitor supply-demand status and allocate warehouse space. 26 percent of business processes had negative correlations with team overlap. We found that team overlap was associated in 10 of 39 business processes. This is 28% more than when there was less team overlap. These processes were often performed by team members between 9 AM and 5 PM, when there was high overlap. This is worrying. Our data does not support the idea that team members may have moved work to the more difficult tasks during periods of high overlap. This could include updating employees' details in a database or releasing purchase orders.The first category of business processes benefits from team members working together; the second category is particularly well-suited for being done remotely over the long term; while those in category two and three would benefit from clear norms that allow team members to work remotely on these tasks without distractions.Lessons for managersManagers should consider whether the digital workplace might cause employees to work longer hours or push themselves more. Sometimes, members of a team may have to work longer hours to achieve the same results. Sometimes, it may seem more difficult to work alone at night or odd hours, with little social interaction.These challenges can be addressed by teams through a digital charter. This establishes standards for work hours and team overlap. Here are some areas that should be of particular importance:Making time for each other: Establish hours that 50+% of your team will be working online. Our data showed that on average, teams worked 7+ hours per day. More than half of the team was online at all times. These hours are when you need to schedule business processes. They allow for more team overlap and enable you to make and communicate decisions that impact the whole group.It is important to establish a time when at least 50% of the team will be working online together. Our data showed that on average, teams worked 7+ hours per day. More than half of the team was online at all times. These hours are when you schedule business processes. They benefit from more team overlap and can be used to communicate with the whole group. Don't force overlap: It is okay if your team doesn't overlap in a 7-hour block or if they are unable to achieve 50+% overlap every time. We found that team overlap can range between 4-10 hours per day in our data set. There are certain processes that work best when performed in isolation.It is okay to not be concerned about whether your team does not overlap in a 7-hour block or if they are unable achieve 50% overlap every time. We found that team overlap can range between 4-10 hours per day in our data set. There are certain processes that work best when performed in isolation. Don't micromanage your employees' schedules. Give them the freedom to plan their business according to their own schedules. Our data showed that most of our team members were able to do their work when it was most efficient.Give your employees the freedom to plan their business according to their own schedules. Our data showed that most team members work best when they are most productive. Allowing people to log off: Set up norms that allow your team members to have the space and time to focus on their work. These can take the form of heads down time. This is when no team meetings are scheduled. Team members are not expected to contact one another unless absolutely necessary. They are also not to disturb flags that individual users use to indicate when they need to concentrate.You shouldn't make a digital charter that is static. Your team should review it frequently (e.g. at the beginning of each quarter), as they gain experience with digital collaboration.Managers must also focus on reducing digital work's toil. Managers cannot walk down the hall and develop managerial intuition if they are not implementing a continuous program to reduce their employees' toil. To reduce physical toil, it is necessary to objectively assess what the end-user does at work, how that work is structured and unstructured, and how these processes can be improved using multiple levers, such as process improvement and user training, automation, or upgrading of underlying IT software.Managers can rebuild their intuition through periodic retrospectives as part of their digital team charter, via the use or external operations consulting teams or by using new tools that use computer science to understand how teams function in a digital environment.***Remote work is here for the long-term and brings new opportunities for collaboration and productivity. Research confirms that remote workdays are endless, with high productivity spread across all hours and periods of employee isolation. However, working alone can sometimes prove to be productive. In many cases, employees appear to be doing a good task of allocating tasks between different times of the day.Our analysis reveals the importance of team overlap and offers simple strategies to combat remote work's psychological and practical downsides. This research can be used to learn from the pandemic and improve business operations, making them more sustainable over the long-term.
