Working from home increases your risk of making mistakes, scientists say

Working from home increases your risk of making mistakes, a study examining the quality of chess play has found. The standard was significantly worse when players competed online instead of face to face, researchers discovered, suggesting that not being in the office is harmful to productivity. They monitored nearly 215,000 chess moves made by players during in-person and digital tournaments, checking them against what was the best play by using artificial intelligence. Such was the impact on performance when playing remotely, it would have taken Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the world's top-rated player, to the same rating as the current 20th-best player, according to Dainis Zegners from Rotterdam School of Management, one of the study's co-authors. He said the research showed that remote working could hinder people's ability to carry out mentally-intense tasks while alone.