Measuring the productivity impacts of new ways of working

Abstract

Purpose“New ways of working” refers to non‐traditional work practices, settings and locations with information and communication technologies (ICT) to supplement or replace traditional ways of working. They are being deployed in knowledge work context in order to increase employees working motivation, job satisfaction and productivity. However, these benefits are not self‐evident. This paper aims to examine the task of measuring the expected benefits.Design/methodology/approachThis paper synthesizes the existing literature on measurement of knowledge work productivity and identifies some key prerequisites and restrictions that should be taken into account when measuring the impacts of organizational change.FindingsThe paper proposes a measurement approach for evaluating the impacts of a new ways of working initiative in a knowledge work context.Originality/valuePrevious literature has focused on studying whether facilities and ICT solutions are appropriate from the viewpoint of an individual knowledge worker. However, there is a lack of studies focused on the actual business impacts of different working arrangements.