• Recent research found that fully remote workers were less productive than office workers.

• We talked to two people who began working from the office more because it made them more productive.

• Hybrid work could provide a win-win for employees and their bosses.

Working remotely has its advantages, but there's growing evidence to support what many managers have long suspected: Fully remote workers are less productive.

A July working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research that studied data-entry workers in India found that workers randomly assigned to work from home were 18% less productive than those in the office. A recent analysis of multiple studies by the Stanford economist Nick Bloom, a leading remote-work expert, found that fully remote workers were 10% to 20% less productive than their in-office counterparts. These findings come as US labor productivity — as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — has slowed in recent quarters.

The research supports anecdotes from individual companies. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for example, said earlier this year that early-career engineers tended to perform better when they're in person at least three days a week, while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has said that remote employees are less productive.

To be sure, many people might be more productive at home. But the research has found, on average, those working in the office at least some of the time are more productive . It strengthens the rationale for calling employees back to the office, as Salesforce and Meta have done. Even Zoom, which is synonymous with remote work, recently called some employees back to the office for at least two days a week.

Going to the office can free you from 'home distractions'

It's not just researchers and bosses who are coming to these conclusions. Some individuals are choosing to return to the office.

Take Jeff Moriarty, a 44-year-old marketing professional in the Chicago area. He told Insider that his company allowed him to continue working remotely even as pandemic restrictions eased. Though he lives only half an hour from his office, he said that until June last year, he worked from home five days a week.