Remote and hybrid work is giving rise to a third “productivity peak” for many white-collar workers outside of the usual 9 to 5 workday. Traditionally most workers would have two productivity peaks throughout the day, one at around 11 AM, and another around 3 PM, but Microsoft data shows at least a third of workers tracked had a third peak around 9-10 PM.
Seismic changes in workplace expectations for some industries came quickly in the months after COVID first spread across the world. UNO Sociology Professor Dr. D’Lane Compton said companies were forced to adapt hybrid work schedules that were being debated pre-2020, but largely left unimplemented.
They said those companies are starting to embrace this new “workday” pattern, as it appears it’s led to increased productivity.
“Some people work better in the evening and they want more flexibility then to also maybe spend some time with children during the afternoon and during the day,” Compton told WWL. “Trying to control workers and workers' time actually decreases your productivity in business, especially in the corporate setting.”
Many workers now get to work during times when they are personally most productive, instead of being locked into a one size fits all traditional office hours. Compton said there’s research showing that if you let workers work when they want to work, they actually put in more hours than they would normally. Compton said there’s also evidence that in some industries this shift into more flexible schedules resulting in more total weekly hours is worker-led.
“But it is corporate culture that is making the anxiety that you need to work more and do more,” said Compton. “The work population is more anxious now and so a lot of them feel like you need to be working constantly, and with the rise of technology, the internet, Zoom, things like that we see that there are less barriers.”
Flexible schedules are in high demand, and the increased productivity is no doubt music to businesses’ ears, but is this phenomenon healthy? Could the more blurred line between being on and off the clock, and the increase in total hours worked have negative social and health consequences?
“It could be a burnout society that we are generating, and it will be interesting to see how the children of these workers respond to that,” said Compton. “We (Americans) do significantly go through more burnout, and phases of burnout compared to other countries.”
Compton said while less rigid scheduling has the potential to spur innovation, the total number of hours worked under this new structure will have to be properly managed, and perhaps supported through benefits like increased PTO.
One thing is for certain though, this isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s a change that was already in the works, just sped up by pandemic conditions.
“I remember 20 years ago when I was coming out of college these were some of the same concerns and fears,” said Compton.
