Third of UK workers' average day is lost to performative work, survey reveals

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Experts suggest while time is still seen as the key measurement of productivity, rather than the quality of output, employees feel pressured to ‘look busy’

by Grace Lewis 3 July 2023

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Just under one third (30 per cent) of the average UK desk worker’s day is lost to performative work – tasks that are done to appear productive, but don’t contribute to company goals – according to new research.

The study from instant messaging platform Slack , of more than 18,000 desk workers across the globe – including 2,027 in the UK – also found that 37 per cent of UK workers believe their productivity is measured by visibility, such as hours spent in the office or online. This is most likely causing the time lost to performative work, Slack concluded.

Serkan Ceylan, associate dean of the faculty of business at Arden University, said: “When employees feel productivity is measured by visibility, the pressure to look busy at all times increases.” Indeed, according to the survey respondents, nearly 43 per cent of meetings could be eliminated with no real adverse consequences.

“[But] there are limited hours in the working day where we can operate at our peak performance, and research indicates that five hours is about the maximum time that most of us can concentrate hard on something,” Ceylan suggested.

Jon Boys, senior labour market economist at the CIPD, agreed, stating that the term ‘performative work’ suggested that some tasks were seen as “valueless”, rather than the whole job itself. However, “it’s important that employers consider whether people should be spending 100 per cent of their time on high-value cognitive work or whether some of the alleged down time that’s built into work is actually important”, he said.

“Streamlining tasks to remove the downtime risks increasing work intensity, which is so often associated with burnout and high turnover rates.”

According to the Slack study, two fifths (38 per cent) of workers said their top barrier to productivity was staying motivated, while a further 39 per cent said they were more productive when they were able to choose the hours they worked.

Despite this, 40 per cent of business leaders said they were concerned that providing greater flexibility would cause a decline in productivity, and 36 per cent said ‘coordination’ would be more challenging as a result, according to the research.

Ceylan said employers would need to relook at how they were measuring performance – focusing on the quality of outputs, instead of the time spent working on achieving those outputs. This in turn would help keep employees more focused and motivated, he said. “Instead of spending time projecting how busy they are or how hard they’re working, focus will instead fall to the quality of work – enabling them to work more efficiently towards the end result,” Ceylan explained.

Andrew Mawson, founder of Advanced Workplace Assessments, also said businesses needed to be clear on “the outcomes they need from their people and emphasise the measurements associated with those outcomes”.

“As organisations move away from ‘face to face, in the same place’ working to a hybrid model, they must empower their teams to work independently, encouraging and motivating employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the company's future success,” he said.

For Boys, this ultimately comes down to trust: “Trusting employees and giving them the autonomy to be productive in ways that suit them.”

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Experts suggest while time is still seen as the key measurement of productivity, rather than the quality of output, employees feel pressured to ‘look busy’ by Grace Lewis 3 July 2023. Share article on Twitter. Share article on Facebook. Share article on LinkedIn. Just under one third (30 per cent) of the average UK desk worker’s day is lost to performative work – tasks that are done to appear productive, but don’t contribute to company goals – according to new research. The study from instant messaging platform Slack , of more than 18,000 desk workers across the globe – including 2,027 in the UK – also found that 37 per cent of UK workers believe their productivity is measured by visibility, such as hours spent in the office or online. This is most likely causing the time lost to performative work, Slack concluded. Serkan Ceylan, associate dean of the faculty of business at Arden University, said: “When employees feel productivity is measured by visibility, the pressure to look busy at all times increases.” Indeed, according to the survey respondents, nearly 43 per cent of meetings could be eliminated with no real adverse consequences. “[But] there are limited hours in the working day where we can operate at our peak performance, and research indicates that five hours is about the maximum time that most of us can concentrate hard on something,” Ceylan suggested. Jon Boys, senior labour market economist at the CIPD, agreed, stating that the term ‘performative work’ suggested that some tasks were seen as “valueless”, rather than the whole job itself. However, “it’s important that employers consider whether people should be spending 100 per cent of their time on high-value cognitive work or whether some of the alleged down time that’s built into work is actually important”, he said. “Streamlining tasks to remove the downtime risks increasing work intensity, which is so often associated with burnout and high turnover rates.” According to the Slack study, two fifths (38 per cent) of workers said their top barrier to productivity was staying motivated, while a further 39 per cent said they were more productive when they were able to choose the hours they worked. Despite this, 40 per cent of business leaders said they were concerned that providing greater flexibility would cause a decline in productivity, and 36 per cent said ‘coordination’ would be more challenging as a result, according to the research. Ceylan said employers would need to relook at how they were measuring performance – focusing on the quality of outputs, instead of the time spent working on achieving those outputs. This in turn would help keep employees more focused and motivated, he said. “Instead of spending time projecting how busy they are or how hard they’re working, focus will instead fall to the quality of work – enabling them to work more efficiently towards the end result,” Ceylan explained. Andrew Mawson, founder of Advanced Workplace Assessments, also said businesses needed to be clear on “the outcomes they need from their people and emphasise the measurements associated with those outcomes”. “As organisations move away from ‘face to face, in the same place’ working to a hybrid model, they must empower their teams to work independently, encouraging and motivating employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the company's future success,” he said. For Boys, this ultimately comes down to trust: “Trusting employees and giving them the autonomy to be productive in ways that suit them.” More on this Topic. Teaching assistant who ‘boasted’ about having cocaine delivered to school was victim of harassment, tribunal rules. Is moonlighting on a fetish website inappropriate behaviour or a disciplinary offence? Half of HR and recruitment professionals taking on unpaid overtime, survey reveals. Do L&D professionals need formal AI training? How can HR and L&D collaborate to allow employees more time to learn?