Remote work and the gig economy have experienced consistent growth over the past several decades. And three years ago, the shift towards distributed work accelerated, ultimately becoming the "new normal" for many professionals. Yet, this new reality was far from ordinary. Knowledge workers were sent home, left to navigate the challenges of maintaining productivity and collaboration on their own.
During this transitional phase, organizations lacked the necessary guidelines and support to effectively assist their employees. Consequently, distractions arising from messaging apps and unscheduled Zoom meetings began to erode the workday. And when workers missed deadlines, the blame unjustly fell on them. But in reality, remote workers were found to be working longer hours , averaging an additional four hours per week compared to their office counterparts.
This ad hoc work model blurred the boundaries between professional and personal life, leading to heightened stress, burnout, and a subsequent decline in productivity—a burden primarily borne by high-performing workers.
What we have come to understand is that the persistent challenges of digital work inherently stem from team-based problems. To effectively address these problems, it is imperative to provide the whole team—not just leaders or HR—with access to pertinent data and involve them in the problem-solving process.
Three years ago, there was no tool available to support such an approach. And that’s why we built Produce8 .
The employee experience is everything. We spend our workday using an average of 20 different applications, but we never consider how those interactions impact work output. With an extreme amount of context switching within these tools, the big question we all should be asking is: Where in the day do we find time to focus?
Produce8 is a digital work analytics platform, designed for the whole team, that aims to answer that question. By providing visualizations and metrics, our platform help teams establish a shared understanding of what work looks like, identify areas worth fixing, and take measurable action to change them.
Today, as we reach another crossroad with digital work, I am happy to announce the Produce8 Paid plan. With it, we can navigate the nuances of work together:
- Is our Slack or Teams usage effective with notifications off?
- Are there too many meetings ?
- Are we working in the apps we want?
- Is the team more productive when working asynchronously ?
The future of work will come in many forms, and we must not let our fear of experimentation or innovation limit us to outdated models. To move forward confidently, we require data to substantiate and validate the changes we make. That is precisely why Produce8 remains committed to supporting initiatives such as 4 Day Week Global and the Digital Wellness Institute .
Much has changed in the way we work over the past few years, and many of these developments are undoubtedly positive. Certain changes, though, have led to increased working hours in meetings and messaging apps, forcing us to squeeze time out of our personal lives for professional endeavors. We must learn to embrace change while also cutting out its occasional negative aspects. And with Produce8, we aim to do just that. We’ll help you regain lost hours and create space for meaningful work, all without compromising happiness and well-being.
