The studies are in, and remote work is not quite the death of American industry that many of the biggest companies would have you believe.

According to a report by The Hill’s Daniel De Visé, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that remote workers work harder and longer than they do in the office. In fact, De Visé cites a study by Microsoft showing that employees worked an average of 10% more after the switch to remote work.

Similarly, De Visé cites a pre-pandemic Chinese study that shows remote workers are roughly 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts. Some experts believe the increased productivity is specifically because employees appreciate a remote work option and don’t want to lose it.

“I think it’s because people are motivated to keep the arrangement, and so that motivation drives the productivity. They want it to work,” Tammy Allen, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, told De Visé.

The number of remote workers willing to work harder is likely higher than many would expect.

“I think 80 [percent], 90 percent of employees are very responsible and work well whether they’re at the home or the office,” Matthew Bidwell, an associate professor of management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told De Visé.

Despite the evidence, however, some of the biggest companies are aggressively pushing to get employees back to the office, citing corporate culture, communication, mentorship, and a slew of other reasons.

Microsoft chalked the resistance to remote and hybrid work up to a very different reason, saying business leaders have “productivity paranoia.”

Productivity paranoia risks making hybrid work unsustainable. Leaders need to pivot from worrying about whether their people are working enough to helping them focus on the work that’s most important.

“Many leaders and managers are missing the old visual cues of what it means to be productive because they can’t ‘see’ who is hard at work by walking down the hall or past the conference room,” writes Microsoft. “Indeed, compared to in-person managers, hybrid managers are more likely to say they struggle to trust their employees to do their best work (49% vs. 36%) and report that they have less visibility into the work their employees do (54% vs. 38%). And as employees feel the pressure to ‘prove’ they’re working, digital overwhelm is soaring.”

Unfortunately, that paranoia is costing companies talent. Blizzard managers recently blamed RTO mandates for costing the company “some amazing people.” Similarly, nearly a third of professionals would rather quit their jobs than be forced to work in the office full-time.

Perhaps companies should start looking at the evidence, rather than nostalgia, to guide their decision-making process regarding remote work.