But perhaps people will be willing to work harder at certain jobs if compensation is higher. “If you want extra effort, you pay people extra,” said Steven J. Davis, an economist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “You would expect to see some positive productivity benefits of compensating people to put forth more effort per hour than they normally would. “There is a lot of soul-searching going on and companies sharing best practices on how to create corporate cultural virtually.”At the height of the pandemic, the vast majority of office workers worked from home. “It’s a selection of people who have figured out how to make remote work work, and that’s where the productivity gains are coming from.”

Source: New York Times August 10, 2021 16:46 UTC