By Aoibhinn Mc Bride
“There aren’t enough hours in the day” is a common complaint, but working longer hours doesn’t automatically equate to working harder or being more productive.
In fact, the recent 4 Day Week Global pilot scheme, which has been trialed in the U.S., the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, found that a more productive four-day week, over the traditional five-day week, increased revenues by 35% when compared to a similar financial period. It can also lead to business cost savings via reduced utilities and paid sick days.
This correlates with additional data from Slack which found that workers who log off at the end of the workday instead of burning the midnight oil registered 20% higher productivity scores. Additionally, workers who make time for breaks during the workday reported increased productivity.
So if more time spent working isn’t the key to getting more done, where does the solution to increased productivity lie? The answer is in finding your Goldilocks Zone.
Just right?
If you’re struggling to meet deadlines or feel like your to-do list is never-ending, finding the right balance is key.
For starters, limit your meetings every day to two hours maximum to free up time for focus or deep work.
On average, desk workers say four hours per day is the ideal amount of time to spend on focus work.
Speaking about the report’s findings, David Ard, senior vice president of employee success at Slack and Salesforce, said: “Focus time, collaboration time, connection and rest are like the macronutrients of a workday. The right balance gives you the energy you need to work your best. We cannot consider these critical components of our work in silos. To be our most effective, we must create the space for collaborative work and for focused work.”
Making it work
One way to do this is by blocking out your calendar at the start of every working week so that you can plan out periods of focus work, collaborative work with colleagues and meetings.
If you work some days from home and others from the office, look at whether you get your best focus work done at home or in the office and plan your schedule accordingly.
Similarly, could meetings be condensed into in-office days so that you’re not jumping from video call to video call on your WFH days?
Adopting productivity hacks such as the Pomodoro technique which involves working for periods of 25 minutes before taking a five minute break, or Eat the Frog which entails doing all your most complicated tasks first thing in the morning, can also help you get more done.
That said, having the freedom and flexibility to work to your own schedule in a goal rather than task-orientated focus is half the battle and if your current role isn’t facilitating this, it could be time to explore your options.
If that is the case, the BGR Job Board is the ideal place to focus your search as it features thousands of roles in companies that are actively hiring, such as the three below.
AI Content Writer, DataAnnotation, Remote
Are you looking for a remote role that allows you to work to your own schedule? DataAnnotation is seeking an AI Content Writer to join its team and teach AI chatbots. You will be required to have conversations with chatbots in order to measure their progress, as well as write novel conversations in order to teach them what to say. You will also come up with diverse conversations, write high-quality answers, compare the performance of different AI models, plus research and fact-check AI responses. Find out more information here.
Lead Product Manager – Technical, PayPal, San Jose
PayPal is seeking a Senior Product Manager to lead core pieces of the most revenue-generating product for the company. The successful candidate will define strategy, priorities and deliver best-in-class merchant and consumer Checkout experiences for over 300 million consumers. You’ll need a strong track record in product management and experience working in a high-pressure environment at a top tech company, as well as strong business and technical acumen, and deep expertise in mobile user experience. Find out more here.
Database Engineer, Boeing Intelligence & Analytics, Annapolis Junction
As a fully-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, Boeing Intelligence & Analytics offers a small company environment with the opportunities of a large corporation. It is hiring a Database Engineer to architect and develop new database systems, tune Oracle databases to improve the performance of the database and its components and develop software for data analysis. The new hire can also look forward to a $10,000 sign on bonus. Interested? Apply here.
Find your next tech job on the BGR Job Board today
To learn more about our sponsored deals and sponsored posts opportunities, please email sponsored@bgr.com.
