Employees’ and Managers’ Perceptions on Work Performance in Remote and In-Office Working Systems

Abstract Based on data collected through a survey on a sample of 801 employees and 200 managers in Romania, this research investigates the productivity of home versus office work, the demographics of efficient remote workers, and the accuracy of their productivity self-assessments. There is a general consensus among both employees and managers that work location alone does not impact overall, technical, or social performance based on both managerial and employee assessments. The analysis highlights several significant perceptual gaps and demographic influences. A notable discrepancy exists in performance ratings: managers consistently rate their employees’ performance lower than how employees rate themselves, regardless of work location, particularly for core tasks like fulfilling performance criteria and duties without mistakes. Managers and in-office employees agree completely on social performance, but they show significant disagreement regarding remote workers’ social skills and teamwork. This suggests that the lack of physical contact fosters managerial distrust or skepticism concerning the social effectiveness of remote staff. Demographic factors like gender and age are not significant predictors of self-assessed performance. On the other hand employees without minor children were significantly more likely to report higher productivity when working from home, indicating that the presence of children influences perceived productivity based on work location. The future of work depends on efficient adaptation of the organizations to new working conditions.