Excerpt
The problem with longer hours
While long hours could be an excellent way to free up more weekend days on your calendar, they have their downsides – especially if you’re working a schedule that you don’t choose yourself.
“Unfortunately, most people who are determining the length of workdays aren’t taking into consideration the nature of the work, the different work styles on the team, and so on,” Dr. Reeves says.
She adds that though working on one project for an extended period of time can result in difficulty sustaining attention, you might get more done. Working alone or with colleagues, just sitting and focusing together, can get your whole team in a productive groove. On the other side of things, jumping from task to task or meeting to meeting can make the day seem shorter and make you feel busy. However, it will result in further exhaustion, and at the end of the day, you might feel like you didn’t get a lot done.
“It’s different for everyone, and it can be different from day to day,” Dr. Reeves says. “Focusing on the workday to analyze productivity is the tail wagging the dog. If you focus on productivity to set your workday, the flow can be analyzed better.”