"A 2025 National Bureau of Economic Research study found that remote career professionals save about 72 minutes a day by bypassing a commute, but only reinvest 40% of that time back into the company. That's not exactly taking hours away from a day on the job, but workplace experts say it's the tip of the proverbial iceberg on the larger issue of so-called "office freeloading.""
"From an employment-law and workplace-culture standpoint, an 'office freeloader' is someone who consistently avoids meaningful work while benefiting from the efforts of others, often positioning themselves to receive undue credit," said Edward Hones, owner of Hones Law, a Seattle-based employment services law firm. Some behavioral experts view an office freeloader less as a cartoon villain and more as someone who has shifted into survival mode at work."
"They're doing just enough to stay out of trouble while avoiding real ownership of outcomes, which is often evidenced in a kind of strategic vagueness that makes it hard to pin down what they are actually contributing," said Jon Rosenberg, professor and positive psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. On the surface, it might look like laziness, but much more lies underneath, Rosenberg noted."
Remote and hybrid work has increased attention on employees who avoid meaningful work while benefiting from colleagues. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found remote professionals save about 72 minutes daily by skipping commutes but reinvest only 40% of that time into company work. Office freeloaders consistently avoid meaningful tasks, sometimes positioning themselves to receive undue credit. Some workers shift into a survival mode, doing minimal work and using strategic vagueness to obscure contributions. Causes include beliefs that effort won't matter or be recognized, which reduces engagement. Teams and managers can adopt clearer accountability, ownership, and recognition practices to address shirking.
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