Teleworking has led to a “modest but real” increase in productivity, according to INSEE

Who said working from home makes you lazy? Teleworking has led to a “modest but real” improvement in labor productivity in companies that maintained it after the Covid-19 crisis, according to an INSEE study published this Tuesday.

According to this document in partnership with the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor (Dares), an increase of 10 points in the share of teleworkers led to a gain of 0.7 to 1% in productivity growth, between 2019 and 2022. To arrive at this result, the authors measured the practice of teleworking in 6,600 non-financial and non-real estate companies, over this period including the crisis linked to Covid-19.

Two days remotely on average

This health crisis has accelerated the installation of teleworking in companies in France, in a hybrid configuration, often with two days remotely and three in person. In 2024, 22% of private sector employees will telework at least once a month, compared to only 4% in 2019.

The productivity gain appears to be greater for companies which in 2019 rented offices separate from their other production premises (factories, workshops, etc.), with a reduction in costs and less disorganization of work.

For all the companies studied, the reduction in rented space only explains a limited part of the estimated productivity gains. The main thing would come from an improvement in production processes, better coordination, more efficient management, as well as reduced travel times, greater employee autonomy and a calmer environment.

However, warns the study, “the positive correlation between the share of teleworkers and productivity appears especially in companies where this share remains moderate”. When it exceeds 20% to 25% of total employment, the gain “becomes statistically insignificant”.

More costs “when many employees telework”

This decline may be due, in particular, to “the emergence of increased coordination costs when many employees telework”. The authors note that this threshold of 20-25% is “close to the average share of teleworkers observed in the private sector since the end of the pandemic”.

On the other hand, for comparable characteristics, the link between teleworking and productivity gains is identical regardless of the size of the company.