People have a certain time-frame during the day where they are generally the most productive.
Some may say “I’m not a morning person” or “I’m not a night person.”
According to research, there is no exact time of day where every single person is more or less productive, but on average the majority of humans are more productive during morning hours. The Alarm Clock Blog will delve more deeply into these findings, helping readers to discover how to optimize their own productivity abilities.
By definition, labor productivity is the amount of goods or services in a given time that a worker produces.
The authority figures who research, analyze and record these findings are social science specialists called economists. Although the worldwide economic crisis has resulted in most jobs lowering in numbers, economists have been increasingly commissioned globally to provide solutions to keep productivity levels up. These important social science authorities are now being used more than ever by large companies and corporations to provide money-saving and productivity solutions to combat the financial losses many of them face. While economists agree that mornings are generally the most productive time for workers overall, they acknowledge that each person has their own time in which they are most productive, with some deviating from the morning-hour norm.
After 25 years of noticing productivity trends among her clients and herself, Karen Leland, a management and marketing consulting specialist, decided to conduct a poll using social media site LinkedIn. At the highest ranking of 36%, the window between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m was the time that most responders reported as their most productive time-frame. Following close behind at 31% were those who found their optimal productivity to be before 9:00 a.m. 16% reported their most productive times were between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m, 9% reported between 7:00 and 10:00 p.m and 6% reported their peak productivity between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Similar studies all show higher productivity rates during morning hours also, with productivity greatly dwindling after 2:00 p.m.
Leland suggests that people should gauge their own productivity times, since each person’s vary based on their wakeful and sleeping hours. She suggests using a helpful tool developed by productivity expert Charlie Gilkey, used for determining optimal productivity times in a 24-hour window. On a self-rating scale with several colors, red indicates the highest productivity time at which one feels very productive, orange is the period where they feel their productivity beginning to decline and yellow is the color at which they have hit a neutral plateau. On the negative end of the productivity spectrum is green, where more energy is spent attempting to work than actually working; gray is the time in which one would be asleep.
Many employers are also aware of productivity factors and must compensate to keep their employees’ working incentives in check.
For example, in medical care facilities employees are offered higher wages for working the 2nd and 3rd shifts. Numerous factories and many retail stores with later hours of operation also have shift differentials for this reason. Economists also clarify the fact that the blame for lost productivity must not always be directed at employees. Program specialist Douglas Ogden performed research at a Boeing factory and noted that after more ample overhead lighting was installed, the workers’ ability to identify defects increased by 20%. Economists say improving the work environment is important when coupled with the optimal productivity time-frame. By optimizing the work environment and taking measures to increase focus and productivity during optimal hours, economists report that more work will be produced in less amount of time – more production means more revenue, a key goal in battling economic crisis.
As an expert consultant in executive productivity, Stephanie Winston reports that the peak of morning hours are the most productive time for most workers.
As she points out in her book “Organized For Success“, those who begin their morning by conversing with co-workers or drinking coffee are actually wasting their most potentially productive time-frame. Corporate productivity consultant Julie Morgenstern, author of “Never Check E-Mail In The Morning,” suggests that employees should use the morning hours where most people are productive by simply starting directly on their work, rather than checking e-mails. Even work-based e-mails will usually include social chatter or forwards that prove to be distracting; before an employee is aware of it, half the morning has passed and they have wasted their optimal window for productivity. Along with avoiding e-mails, Morgenstern points out that it is beneficial to disable any audible e-mail alerts. Hearing a “bing” every time a new e-mail arrives will distract the worker from their current task. She also suggests staying focused on one task at a time, allowing a realistic time-frame to complete it in – and then making an honest effort at completing that goal.
In addition to the suggestions economists provide regarding employees’ self-change in habits during optimal morning hours, they are also researching the effectiveness of a 4-day work week.
In 2004, Professors Rex Facer and Lori Wadsworth, of the Romney Institute of Public Management, conducted a study in Spanish Fork City, Utah.
They surveyed city workers who were given a new 10-hour work schedule lasting 4 days per week, instead of the traditional 5-day work week with 8-hour days. After careful analysis of the data received, they concluded that the employees reflected a 60% increase in both productivity and job satisfaction. The employees saw the 10-hour days as more bearable when they resulted in one entire additional day off. These researchers concluded that the extra day off seemed to make the employees like the work environment more.
According to “The Psychometric Pocketbook,” by Dorothy Spry and Barry Cripps, employees show more productivity when work is more enjoyable.
Not all employers will hire an economist to survey the work environment, so in order to make employers happy, lower stress and maximize productivity, economists all agree that workers should take full advantage of their own optimal productivity window.
So that’s Online Clock’s take on the subject of times of the day and productivity.
At what times of the day do you find that you’re at your most productive?
Let us know via the comments form below.
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