So Friday – shocker – is our least productive day of the working week. However, perhaps it’s more of a surprise to find just how bad things get - the average slump in productivity is 35%.
When looking at various studies, it’s interesting to note that Tuesdays come out top on the productivity front. We may come in after the weekend with gritty determination, but Mondays are often filled with fire-fighting, whereas we really get down to business on Tuesday. Decline sets in on Wednesday, until we hit the aforementioned low-point on Friday.
So, what’s the matter with us?
In our defence, Business Insider spoke to a psychologist who reckoned we peak at about 3 hours of focus a day. So really, sustaining 8 hours of work a day year-round is a Herculean pipe dream – especially when Melanie Curtin at Inc.com believes our defined working hours hark from the 18th century.
The 3 hours of productivity theory is supported by the results of a survey of office workers
– only 2 hours and 53 minutes of actual work is done per day
. Rather than just chatting at the water cooler, these days people are more interested in checking their social media and news websites.
So, should employers be installing spy cameras, or investing in electric-shock treatment to ensure their staff are doing an honest day’s work?
Don’t be a statistic
The research shows that Monday and Tuesday are busy periods. In that case, you could fight your own temptations to watch cat videos on YouTube all Friday by designating it as your day for meetings, leaving you even more time to be productive earlier in the week. Better yet, standing meetings (yep, literally standing) have been shown to take up less time, yet result in participants more involved, better performing and even less confrontational.
Friday’s are all too often left as the day to do all the stuff you didn’t do earlier in the week. The issue there of course is that those jobs look no more attractive than they did on Monday! In fact, they look worse, as the weekend is looming and you’re now thinking “Would it be so bad if this was left until Monday?”
Solution? Break that huge, ominous task into bitesize ones, or try sharing the problem (there’s that Friday meeting idea again). We, as humans, love ticking off tasks – they give us that sense of achievement needed to kick-start the motivation to finish the job. I’ve talked more about how to get more out of your day in another article - Here’s The Problem With Your To-Do List.
Don’t beat yourself up
We might think working longer hours means we’re getting more done, but we never work as well when we’re burned out. Studies show taking regular breaks helps concentration and boosts your mood (Florida State University researchers found elite performers are more productive working in 90-minute stints). Try taking a five-minute walk around the office, or spend 15 minutes grabbing that mid-afternoon coffee.
You can take also take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to your day. Many of us have our day dictated to us by emails, phone calls or whoever sticks their head round the office door. Don’t let them dictate what your day is going to look like! Have your plan of attack, and stick to it, or you’ll never accomplish what you set out to do.
Review your recruitment
About to post a job advert? Let’s take a second. According to the same above survey on office workers, 19% admit they waste time at work looking for other
jobs
. Something clearly isn’t working, and before adding to the wage bill, it could be worth looking at what can be done to improve existing productivity and motivation levels instead.
With work mounting, it’s easy to forget to celebrate goals with your team, let alone share your longer-term vision for the business to help them feel included. In the spirit of working smarter, not harder, making time to informally chat with colleagues is an excuse to get input on how the business could be improving processes and procedures which will improve more than just your own productivity.
Alternatively, you could get better value for money and ditch the stress of employment by outsourcing. Clare Runham runs
Miss MPS
, a team of virtual assistants where you pay for the 2 hours and 53 minutes only, not the baggage that comes with it!
