# Experienced teammates increase productivity in remote work: Evidence from a full remote work company in Japan

## TL;DR

Experienced teammates in a fully remote Japanese company boost productivity, especially for newer employees, even with little communication.

## Contribution

This study provides novel evidence that experienced teammates positively impact productivity in remote work settings.

## Key findings

- Experienced teammates increase productivity by 12.2% for team members.
- New employees see a 26.2% productivity boost when working with experienced teammates.
- The effect is not linked to communication volume, suggesting efficient interactions.

## Abstract

This study examines peer effects among employees working fully remotely. We use panel data from a company that has operated with an entirely remote workforce since its inception and leverage as-if random assignment of new hires to teams as a quasi-natural experiment. We find no evidence that the average productivity of a worker’s teammates affects that worker’s own productivity. However, when team members are highly experienced, the productivity of employees on those teams increases by about 12.2%. In particular, employees with the shortest tenure see an increase in productivity of approximately 26.2%. Furthermore, this effect appears unrelated to the volume of communication within the team, suggesting that experienced teammates can have a positive influence even with minimal interaction, possibly through more efficient, targeted communication.