Do your employees have enough time to focus on the tasks they were hired to do? It would be easy to assume during an eight-hour workday that they have plenty of time to complete their tasks, but data is saying otherwise.
A Hubstaff Global Report found that the average worker now gets just 2-3 hours of focus time per day.
Measuring focus time is a critical metric organizations are missing and a strategy many aren’t considering.
Employees are measured on their productivity within their workday, but how much time do they really get to work? From inconsistent meeting schedules, constant interruptions, and unplanned emergencies, those eight hours quickly get dwindled to maybe a few each day for focused time.
This isn’t an individual problem. It’s an organizational one that needs to be addressed to protect employee time to meet the expectations set upon them. Not doing so can quickly lead to burnout, frustration, and even turnover.
How can HR ensure employees have the time they need to work? Check out these strategies:
- Leadership: Company leadership needs to take responsibility for creating opportunities for a productive work environment. This means leading the way through actions and not being the cause of interruptions.
- Core Focus Hours: Consider ways to give all employees the time to focus. This could be that meetings are only scheduled on certain days or that a block of time each day is only for employee focus time.
- Review Meetings: We’ve all been in meetings that could have been an email. Encourage managers and meeting-setters to review if a meeting is necessary or if there are more productive ways to communication to the team.
- Context Switching: How often are you asking employees to switch gears? If most of their day is reacting to changing needs, it’s time to review the work and prioritize for employees.
Employees can only succeed if given an environment where they can thrive. Establishing focus time as a metric can support organizational productivity, retention, and address burnout.
Looking for more ways to give your employees the focused time they need? Reach out and let’s chat.
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