There’s a phrase that’s floated around the workplace for years: productivity theater. We’re talking about the evergreen active circle on slack. The scheduled emails after 10 pm. The car in the lot before sunrise. All signals that someone is “busy” and clocking long hours. None of which actually tells you whether the work is getting done.
Those signals were management defaults for years. When employees were physically in the office and you saw them at their desks, you assumed productivity by proxy.
Now, people might be showing up on time, but they’re leaving earlier. They’re working from home. They’re structuring their days in ways that don’t resemble the in office 9-5. Flexibility has upended the traditional measures we relied on. If the old signs of business were flimsy at best, then their disappearance forces us to get clear on how we’re making progress toward our goals.
What do we do now?
Flexibility isn’t a problem to solve, it’s a reality to adapt to. The real question is whether our organizations have the structure and the buy in to have success. Because flexibility without accountability doesn’t work.
And accountability doesn’t mean oversight. It doesn’t mean staring at dashboards or logging keystrokes. It means having the right systems in place, setting expectations up front, and measuring against outcomes, not appearances.
As managers, we’ll give an inch, but only if it doesn’t turn into a mile. If more freedom is expected for when and how work is getting done, employers should expect more clarity on what is being delivered. And that clarity doesn’t come from green circles or late night emails.
Trust is what makes the whole thing hold.
Flexibility asks for accountability, and accountability demands trust. A triple threat when they work together.
Leaving you with this as we hope we didn’t disappoint too many musical theater fans in our readership!
Until next time,
Your Spherion South Central WI & Northern IL team