Game Theory Applied to Remote/Hybrid Working
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers have transitioned from performing their jobs in-person to a hybrid and even fully remote setting. As a result, our reliance on web-calling platforms greatly increased, and in turn, the less we saw and interacted with our colleagues. Thus, the motivations and behaviors of employees changed, and the never-ending problem of the “free-rider” arises. When working in an in-person environment, employees are forced to interact with their team and are hesitant to free-ride on others’ work. People want to seem smart and knowledgeable when in front of peers. However, with the movement to hybrid and full-remote work, there has been a shift from social behavior to one of sole personal benefit. Employees are meeting over Zoom calls and sometimes through black screens filled only with profile pictures. In turn, they may not have the same close connection with their coworkers as they would have if they were together in-person.
This article and the idea of the “free-rider” problem in the workplace relate to the idea of game theory that we learned in class. Game theory is the idea that “individual players/people make decisions and the payoff to each player depends on the decisions made by all.” The “free-rider” problem takes on the situation when one person reaps communal benefits even without contributing any work. In the case of the transition to remote work, the game is played by the employee and his/her peers/manager, with each participant doing whatever maximizes profits without regard to actions.
In response to the change in work settings since the start of the pandemic, employees have mostly acted in two ways. The first approach is related to the “game of chicken” where two players move toward each other, and the first one to move out of the way of collision loses the game. In the workplace, one worker can notice that another employee is working hard to ensure the success of the project and as a result, start slacking off from work. The former employee is, in reality, taking advantage of the latter. But at the same time, this employee can use his/her free time to take on side projects with the goal of maximizing net payoff. The other approach is one where both employees work together to be successful and ensure a larger payout for the group. In this situation, there is no free-rider, as everyone is doing their part in the project to make more money instead of slacking and pursuing side hustles.