Why do software developers like working from the office?

IF 3.8 2区计算机科学 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Information and Software Technology Pub Date : 2024-12-12 DOI:10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107647

Nurit Zaidman , Dina Van Dijk

{"title":"Why do software developers like working from the office?","authors":"Nurit Zaidman , Dina Van Dijk","doi":"10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107647","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>The inquiry of the optimal number of working days per week for home-based (versus office-based) work, poses a challenge for many organizations within the high-tech sector. Studies in this area tend to overlook the responses and preferences of specific populations, and there is a lack of contextualization in the discussion. Given that software developers' needs have an impact on their performance, turnover, and well-being, it is important to understand their needs in relation to where work should be accomplished. Research that illuminates this topic can lead to different presumptions regarding developers’ preferences for home and/or office work.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To analyze preferences for home- versus office-based work among Scrum team software developers employed in a multinational organization.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>To achieve a broad, global scope and an in-depth understanding of developers’ preferences for work that was office-based or home-based, we used a combination of two data collection methods: a survey administered to 651 employees and in-depth interviews conducted with 35 employees from the same organization.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The results show that the employees preferred to work from home for the majority of weekdays, yet, about 70 % of them preferred to come to the office at least once a week. The main reasons for home-based preference were “no commuting,” and “more productive and concentrated work”, more time for myself, and a relaxed comfortable environment. The reasons for office-based preference were to socialize with colleagues, to engage in work interactions, and to enjoy the ambiance and facilities available at the workplace.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The study illuminates developers' social preferences and their work motivations as related to their need for peer interaction, which contrasts the dominant argument in existing research that portrays developers as having a low need for social interaction. Second, the study depicts a contextual factor, working in Scrum teams, as an explaining variable to the developers’ preferences for office social interaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54983,"journal":{"name":"Information and Software Technology","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 107647"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information and Software Technology","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584924002520","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Context

The inquiry of the optimal number of working days per week for home-based (versus office-based) work, poses a challenge for many organizations within the high-tech sector. Studies in this area tend to overlook the responses and preferences of specific populations, and there is a lack of contextualization in the discussion. Given that software developers' needs have an impact on their performance, turnover, and well-being, it is important to understand their needs in relation to where work should be accomplished. Research that illuminates this topic can lead to different presumptions regarding developers’ preferences for home and/or office work.

Objective

To analyze preferences for home- versus office-based work among Scrum team software developers employed in a multinational organization.

Method

To achieve a broad, global scope and an in-depth understanding of developers’ preferences for work that was office-based or home-based, we used a combination of two data collection methods: a survey administered to 651 employees and in-depth interviews conducted with 35 employees from the same organization.

Results

The results show that the employees preferred to work from home for the majority of weekdays, yet, about 70 % of them preferred to come to the office at least once a week. The main reasons for home-based preference were “no commuting,” and “more productive and concentrated work”, more time for myself, and a relaxed comfortable environment. The reasons for office-based preference were to socialize with colleagues, to engage in work interactions, and to enjoy the ambiance and facilities available at the workplace.

Conclusions

The study illuminates developers' social preferences and their work motivations as related to their need for peer interaction, which contrasts the dominant argument in existing research that portrays developers as having a low need for social interaction. Second, the study depicts a contextual factor, working in Scrum teams, as an explaining variable to the developers’ preferences for office social interaction.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Information and Software Technology 工程技术-计算机：软件工程

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

7.70%

发文量

164

审稿时长

9.6 weeks

期刊介绍： Information and Software Technology is the international archival journal focusing on research and experience that contributes to the improvement of software development practices. The journal''s scope includes methods and techniques to better engineer software and manage its development. Articles submitted for review should have a clear component of software engineering or address ways to improve the engineering and management of software development. Areas covered by the journal include: • Software management, quality and metrics, • Software processes, • Software architecture, modelling, specification, design and programming • Functional and non-functional software requirements • Software testing and verification & validation • Empirical studies of all aspects of engineering and managing software development Short Communications is a new section dedicated to short papers addressing new ideas, controversial opinions, "Negative" results and much more. Read the Guide for authors for more information. The journal encourages and welcomes submissions of systematic literature studies (reviews and maps) within the scope of the journal. Information and Software Technology is the premiere outlet for systematic literature studies in software engineering.