The article attributes the productivity loss to employee dissatisfaction, but I suspect working from an office is for many people just less productive overall.

The article attributes the productivity loss to employee dissatisfaction, but I suspect working from an office is for many people just less productive overall. - Written communication and documentation falls off as people rely on (and forget) face-to-face discussions - Quality of sleep declines - Workers leave the office promptly to beat (or spend time in) traffic instead of working an extra hour - The workplace itself is full of distractions and other time-sinks like hustling to the meeting room, waiting for the restroom, or taking a long team lunch - The mental load of deferring all minor personal tasks to the end of the workday or the weekend rather than accomplishing them on short breaks during off-peak hours Put otherwise, of course productivity is declining, as we are now spending more of our possibly-productive time expending energy to move and host our bodies away from home, and it seems the productivity gained by doing so doesn't outstrip the productivity wasted.