19/03/2026 - 12:45 - MORE 54

Cevat Aksoy

(EBRD)

will give a presentation on 

The Value of Some Office Time

Abstract

This paper evaluates whether structured in-person contact can improve performance and retention in a fully remote workplace. We study a nine-month randomised controlled trial in the inbound customer service center operations of a multinational telecommunications firm. A sample of 248 fully remote customer-service agents was randomly assigned either to remain fully remote (control) or to attend the office one day per month (treatment), holding pay, schedules, tasks, and performance evaluation constant. The monthly office-day policy increases productivity. Calls per hour rise by about 4.4% on average, driven by roughly 5% shorter call durations, with no evidence of declines in service quality (customer ratings and audit scores) or changes in break time. The intervention also reduces attrition over the experimental horizon, with particularly strong retention effects among higher-performing agents. Evidence on mechanisms points to interaction and learning: treated agents report more frequent managerial feedback and stronger team communication, and randomised seating assignments show that brief co-location generates new peer links and productivity spillovers. Overall, predictable in-person contact can improve productivity and retention in fully remote service work.

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