Hybrid working arrangements established during the health crisis have generated a modest but tangible increase in corporate labour productivity, according to a newly published joint study by France’s national statistics bureau, Insee, and the research body Dares.
Economists Philippe Askenazy, Ugo Di Nallo, and Ismaël Ramajo analysed non-financial and non-real estate companies to evaluate the lasting economic impacts of working from home. The data reveals that a 10-point increase in the proportion of remote workers correlated with a 0.7 to one percent gain in productivity growth between 2019 and 2022.
The primary work arrangement to emerge across the corporate landscape is a hybrid framework, typically combining two days of remote work with three days on-site.
Office configuration as a catalyst
The positive impact on performance was most pronounced in companies that rented office space distinct from their primary production facilities prior to the pandemic. These specific firms adopted remote working at a significantly higher rate, averaging 36 percent of employees teleworking in 2022, compared to just 10 percent for companies with integrated premises.
For these office-dependent corporations, the post-crisis reorganisation of work yielded substantial dividends. Within this group, a 10-point increase in the share of remote workers led to a 2.7-point improvement in productivity growth over the three-year analytical period.
Beyond cost-cutting measures
The researchers noted that the observed productivity boost cannot be attributed solely to corporate cost-cutting or technology upgrades.
While a reduction in rented office square footage and increased investment in information technology equipment played a part, they only partially explain the gains. Instead, the data suggests that these high-performing companies possessed existing operational frameworks and production processes inherently more conducive to autonomous, remote execution.
Macroeconomic offsets
Despite clear internal advantages for individual businesses, the study warns of broader economic consequences. At the macroeconomic level, the internal productivity gains achieved by companies adopting hybrid models may be counterbalanced by negative externalities. The structural shift away from traditional office models continues to exert downward pressure on adjacent sectors, most notably the commercial real estate market.
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Photo credit: Corinne Kutz, Unsplash