The Natural Productivity Cycle

In your personal life, when attending to business or working on sideprojects, how often do you spend 8 consecutive hours in front of acomputer? It doesn’t make sense because we lose the ability to concentrate effectively within a few hours.

Everyone goes through alternating periods of high and low mentalacuity. There are days when I work on personal projects for well over 8hours, but the time is always divided into multiple sessions. I mightspend a few hours coding a design, a few hours writing, and a few hoursreading feeds, moderating comments, and responding to email.

I work this way because it aligns with my mental energy cycle. Anymore than 3 hours in front of a computer and my eyes start hurting andI become restless. I lose the ability to do my best work. Instead offorcing myself to continue, I switch to an activity that allows my mindto recharge. These breaks maximize productivity by eliminating downperiods. It’s counter productive to force work when the mental energyisn’t there.

The Problem with an 8 Hour Work Day

A continuous 8 hour work day is a relic of the past. It makes sensefor physical labor and manufacturing work, but with information workersit doesn’t account for the mental energy cycle. The ability of afactory worker to think analytically is irrelevant, he’s eithercranking widgets or he isn’t.

In the case of the modern information worker, nearly all tasksinvolve creative or strategic thinking. The way someone answers anemail or interprets a piece of information can differ drasticallydepending on his or her energy level. Nobody does their best work 5:30in the afternoon after they’ve been sucking down coffee all day to stayawake.

I can’t speak for all workers, but I’ve observed that productivitylevels generally peak twice a day — first thing in the morning andshortly after lunch. The most productive period is the beginning of theday. People are capable of creative tasks like writing and solvingcomplex technical problems. After a couple hours of intense work,energy levels drop and workers downgrade to less demanding tasks likeresponding to email and tinkering with existing creations. Towards theend of the cycle, the mind is so cluttered and drained that workersresort to “work related activities” that appear productive but don’tcontribute to the bottom line. The afternoon cycle is similar but theproductivity peak isn’t as high. For different people the peaks andvalleys will vary, but overall I’d estimate only 3-4 hours a day could be classified as highly productive.

This number isn’t caused by slacking. You can’t force an informationworker to be highly productive when the energy isn’t there. Workers cantry their hardest, but the work just won’t have that creative edge. Thelow ratio of highly productive hours to total hours worked is theresult of the continuous 8 hour work day.

When workers reach the low energy part of the cycle, they can’trecharge with a non-work activity. The only option is office purgatory.You can’t be highly productive because you’re mentally fatigued, butyou can’t recharge because the 8 hour work day requires the appearanceof constant productivity. The result is millions of unproductiveworkers trapped at their desks when they’d rather be doing somethingelse.

Alternative Work Arrangements

The obvious solution to this problem is planning around the mentalenergy cycle by breaking the work day into multiple segments. Thetraditional office setting doesn’t accommodate this because there arefew available recharge activities. People can’t do household chores,run errands, or engage in recreational activities without leaving theworkplace.

Some companies have tried to make the work environment moreaccommodating by offering meals, fitness centers, and special areas forrelaxation. Although these amenities are certainly an improvement,they’re expensive for employers and only partially satisfy employees.

The solution that makes the most sense is a remote work arrangementbecause it reduces employer costs and allows employees to adjust theirwork schedule to their mental energy cycle. When a worker becomesmentally fatigued, they can go off the clock and engage in rechargeactivities that are personally productive like exercise or relaxation.When energy returns, the worker can start working again at a highlevel, effectively cutting out the low productivity period of thecycle. Employers don’t pay for unproductive time and employeesget to work in a more natural pattern that adjusts to their personallives.

Why isn’t everyone doing this already? Many workers already are, andas commutes get worse and communications improve, the number willcontinue to increase. Of course there will always be a need for officeworkers in businesses (like doctor’s offices and law firms) thatrequire daily customer interaction, but for most companies it reallyisn’t necessary.

There is also the argument that people need to collaborate inperson. This is steadily becoming less essential. Most officecommunications are already done through email or instant messager. Faceto face meetings are certainly necessary, but for the vast majority oflower and mid level employees meetings are the exception and could beconducted via phone/video conference or condensed into one or two daysa week.

Another common objection is that employees will abuse remote workarrangements by slacking off. I’m inclined to believe that most adultsvalue their employment enough that this isn’t a problem. In cases wheresupervision is required, web cams and other technology can used tomonitor a worker.

I suspect the real reason remote work arrangements are still theexception is inertia. Companies are used to doing business in theoffice and are reluctant to change. There is also the presence ofoffice politics. If one person is given a remote arrangement, jealousemployees will complain. Doesn’t it make sense to give everyone whatthey want and save a boat load of cash on office space?

I may only be a kid in his 20’s, but I can tell when something justmakes sense. I perceive an increasing number of people are noticing thesame phenomena. Forty years from now we’ll be telling our grandchildrenabout the olden days when everyone’s mommy and daddy went to work in anoffice.