By allowing a team to work asynchronously, communication becomes more purposeful and less distracting.
Additionally, normalizing asynchronous communication can help improve employee work-life balance, as there is less pressure to engage with messages and emails during off-hours.
Finally, allowing for asynchronous work gives employees the flexibility to work during the hours of the day when they’re available and most productive.
These benefits, however, are double-edged.
Better individual focus can be counter-balanced by hampered team collaboration. Tasks may take longer due to having to wait on someone’s response.
Unless clear boundaries are established and enforced, asynchronous work can worsen work-life balance, as people feel a duty to respond to messages that come in at all hours of the day.
Facilitating communication and establishing boundaries will fall on the shoulders of project managers, who already have to deal with the additional struggle of keeping track of who does what and when.