There was a Ted talk about how people who are good employees don’t prefer to work at their work place and for good reason.
Companies pay all this money for their employees to be productive during the work day but they don’t give them the time to work on their own because of meetings that don’t truly have any relevance to what they need to know or accomplish.
Where do people prefer to work? Anywhere but at their office.
This has been a problem for me in the past where as a manager we had to attend department head meetings, which served no purpose except for our market manager. That was an hour minimum lost every week. The other issue was when I had coworkers decide to pop in and chat about life when I was swamped. The spontaneous conversations can keep your day fresh but take up time if you respond.
Ultimately, working on the weekend, from home or at the local coffee shop all seem like the better option when it comes to actually getting your tasks done. Perhaps this could be a reason that we work as much as we do.
Is that what you want to look back on fondly years later?
"I wasn't very productive at work and my family paid the price when I brought it home with me."
The common denominator? They are all the distractions that halt productivity. Thankfully our current boss doesn't hold meetings that we are required to be present for. Win!