Remote work decreases innovation, says study
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — While remote work has become a mainstream phenomenon since the pandemic, it may not be conducive to groundbreaking innovations.
A new study published in the journal Nature found that scientists and inventors working in person are significantly more likely to achieve major innovations compared to remote collaborators.
“We conclude that despite striking improvements in digital technology in recent years, remote teams are less likely to integrate the knowledge of their members to produce new, disruptive ideas,” the report said.
The extensive research, conducted by researchers from Oxford University and the University of Pittsburgh, analyzed over 20 million scientific studies and 4 million patent applications spanning the last 50 years.
The analysis revealed that in-person teams were 27% more likely to produce pioneering scientific insights and 22% more likely to produce breakthrough patents compared to teams separated by hundreds of miles.
“If you sit in the same room as somebody and something occurs to you, you’ll probably just turn around and ask a question and get the input and feedback. But if it requires you to pick up the phone or send an email, then you might not even bother,” Carl Benedikt Frey, an economist at Oxford and a co-author of the paper, explained.
The pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work. While some challenges exist, like communication, collaboration, and missing out on promotions, the benefits outweigh them.
Employees are even willing to trade pay for better work-life balance and productivity, while businesses can save salaries and access new talent pools.
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