Microsoft’s Satya Nadella coins 'productivity paranoia' amid moonlighting debate, know what is it

Amid the ongoing debate over moonlighting, Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella has coined a new term called ‘productivity paranoia’, saying there's a real disconnect between the management and the employees over productivity.

What is productivity paranoia?

A Microsoft survey revealed that over 80 per cent of managers are worried if the employees are productive enough while working from home. While 87 per cent of employees lack context on how and why they’re being tracked, which can undermine trust and lead to “productivity theatre”. Nadella called this feeling of both sides as ‘productivity paranoia’.

“Leaders think their employees are not productive, whereas employees think they are being productive and in many cases even feel burnt out,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Microsoft survey

As many as 20,000 employers across 11 countries participated in this survey. The result of the ‘Work Trend Index Pulse’ hinted at a fundamental disagreement between employers and employees over productivity with reference to the hybrid mode.

Nadella said that this disagreement over productivity when working from home (WFH) needed to be settled as the pre-pandemic work habits won’t be there any longer, BBC reported.

Microsoft currently allows its employees to work from home up to 50 per cent of the time. Recently, Tata Consultancy Services asked its employees to work at least three days from the office.

READ | It’s coming! ‘Dr Doom’ Nouriel Roubini warns of ‘severe, long and ugly’ recession in 2022-23