For years, it has been assumed that the longer you work, the more productive you are. However, that is now being questioned. Does logging more hours mean you’re getting more done? There is something to be said that when you are tired and overworked, your productivity level goes down. This post will explore the link between hours worked and productivity levels for remote teams.
The Link Between Working Hours and Productivity
As it turns out, longer hours are not the key to higher productivity. In fact, putting in longer hours can cause you to be less productive than if you had worked fewer hours.
Research suggests that your productivity sharply falls after 50 hours a week of work. If you work 55 hours or more, your productivity drops off a cliff. In addition, if you don’t take at least one day off a week, it will cause lower hourly output overall.
Not only is your productivity affected by working too many hours, but your health is too. Research from the World Health Organization (WHO) found that your risk of stroke goes up by 35% when you work an average of 55 or more hours per week. Your risk of dying from heart disease also increases by 17%. This is compared to those who work on average of 35–40 hours per week.
A study conducted by time management expert Laura Vanderkam explored how the number of hours you work each day affects how much time you think you have. The study included 900 people, and on average, employees worked 8.3 hours per day. Results showed that there was only a one-hour difference between workers who felt time-pressured and those who felt like they had plenty of time. Of interest, those who felt they had more time worked only 7.6 hours, compared to those who felt time-crunched, working 8.6 hours. This shows that a roughly 38-hour workweek is optimal for most people.
Is Hours Worked Still a Useful Metric?
“Hours worked” is defined as the total time an employee is on the clock. While it is easy to measure, it might not reflect actual contributions to team goals.
There are certainly pros to using hours worked as a metric. Here are some examples:
- It is easy to track the hours your employees are working.
- It is a good way to keep employees accountable.
- It’s easy to implement.
- It can help identify areas where too much or too little time is being spent.
However, there are also cons to using time tracking for measuring productivity. Here are some examples.
- It doesn’t necessarily reflect efficiency or results.
- It can lean toward focusing on quantity over quality.
- It discourages efficiency.
- It can lead to burnout.
- It does not account for distractions.
Shifting the Focus: From Hours to Output
Rather than using hours worked to determine productivity, a better method is to focus on employee output.
Deliverables Completed
What you need to deliver will vary based on your business. However, you likely have a specific number of deliverables you need completed in any given day, week, or month. You can measure employee productivity by whether they are producing the number of deliverables needed.
You can even break this down further and look at tasks completed. There will be smaller tasks that need to be done to complete deliverables. You can monitor these smaller tasks to ensure that employees are working at an acceptable rate that will allow the deliverables will be completed on time.
Client Satisfaction
Another way to assess employee productivity is to look at the satisfaction of your clients. If you find that clients are complaining that they aren’t getting the products or services they need in a timely manner or that they aren’t of the quality they expect, you’ll know that you have a productivity issue. However, if your clients are happy with what they are getting, then your employees are working at a productive level.
Project Milestones
Similar to deliverables completed, project milestones can be a great way to monitor employee productivity. When you set forth on a project, you will have a timeline that outlines when you want specific tasks to be completed. If your employees are meeting those deadlines, then they are being productive. If there is an issue with meeting the deadlines, you will need to assess whether workers aren’t putting their best effort in, or if the timeline needs to be adjusted.
Quality of Work
It can be challenging to quantify the quality of work, but it is important for ensuring that all deliverables meet expectations. When you regularly measure the quality of work, you can find disgruntled employees, who could become a bigger problem if the issue isn’t addressed. Often, when there is one upset employee, there are often more. Identifying what is causing the dissatisfaction can lead to improved productivity rates across the board.
There are a few different ways you can calculate the quality of work of your remote employees:
- You can use frequency scales, like “always,” “frequently,” “occasionally,” or “never.” These are great options if numbers won’t really give a good description of the metric. For example, if you are getting employee feedback on how they feel about the work environment, you could ask a question like, “How often do you find yourself unsatisfied with your work life?” Employees could then use the frequency scale to respond.
- You can employ sequential numeric scales, such as 1-5 or 1-10, that measure performance metrics like time management.
- Another great option is 360-degree feedback that considers input from multiple sources, such as managers, coworkers, or even customers, to get a better overall picture of employee contributions.
- Finally, a self-evaluation tool can be used to see if your thoughts on your employees match with what employees believe about themselves. If there are differences in the reviews, you can plan to remedy the areas that need improvement.
Response Time
Depending on your business, response time could refer to a variety of things, but it is typically about how long it takes your business to respond to customer inquiries, complaints, or requests. Or, in the case of something like an IT department, it can be how quickly internal tickets are handled. If your employees are demonstrating quick response times, it shows a commitment to customer service. If there is a lag in response times, you will need to look at whether employees are slacking off or if systems need to be adjusted.
Hybrid Approaches
If you don’t want to eliminate using hours as a productivity measuring tool, you can also use a hybrid approach. You can create a plan that uses a mix of hours and performance metrics to assess the productivity of your employees.
Tips For Increasing Productivity in Fewer Hours
Employees all work at different paces. What might take some multiple hours could be completed in an hour or so by another employee. The important thing is that employees feel motivated and capable of being productive in their work environment. Here are some tips for increasing productivity in fewer hours.
Provide Adequate Tools
If an employee doesn’t have the best tools to complete their tasks effectively in less time, then it’s unreasonable for you to expect them to do so. Giving employees adequate tools, such as updated technology and automation features, will allow them to get their work done faster. It can also allow certain tasks to be done automatically, which frees up their time and mind to be more creative and productive. When picking tools, focus on ones that help with employee communication and collaboration, and that help them accomplish tasks. For example, project management tools, file-sharing tools, and messaging platforms.
Eliminate Unnecessary Meetings
Almost half of employees feel that meetings are the biggest waste of time in the workplace. Often, meetings are called that could be handled in other ways, such as email or meetings don’t have an outlined agenda and can get off-topic and waste everyone’s time. Not only that, but meetings can be a drain on company resources. Getting rid of or reducing unnecessary meetings is an easy way to improve job satisfaction and productivity in your business.
Reduce Distractions
Whether an employee is in the office or working remotely, it is easy for distractions to catch their eye and stop their productivity. On average, research suggests that employees spend an average of 2.5 hours every day dealing with interruptions. On top of that, it then takes on average, 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after the distraction.
Distractions can come in the form of social media, someone stopping by to chat, or someone asking for help with a problem. While it’s great to help coworkers with an issue, it then takes time out of your day that you need to complete your tasks. When managers reduce distractions for their teams, they see instant benefits such as better quality of work, higher levels of satisfaction and engagement, and greater productivity.
Monitor and Measure Employee Productivity
When you’re looking to boost productivity in your workplace, the first thing you need to do is ensure you understand what you are looking for. When you monitor and measure employee productivity, you can spot gaps that you might not have realized were there. These gaps could be from a lack of training, the wrong tools, overworked employees, or unbalanced workloads. When you track your employees’ productivity, you can learn what situations or traits most contribute to a productive work environment and come up with solutions to improve overall productivity.
Do Shorter Hours Actually Work?
There have been studies done in Europe that show that companies that tried a four-day workweek had lower turnover rates and fewer absences. It also found that employees who work 32 hours per week rather than 40, report that they feel happier, and can manage their stress better, sleep and exercise more, and spend more time with their loved ones.
Additionally, a study in Iceland showed that employees who worked fewer hours had a much better work-life balance and had better overall health. These employees increased the quality of their work, and their productivity levels went up. When workers get plenty of rest between shifts, they tend to work hard, produce higher-quality work, and be more creative.
Tools for Smarter Time Tracking
The good news is that there are tools out there to make your performance tracking easy. For example, Time Tracker can be used by teams to measure productivity and hours. It has many features like project-based tracking, performance analytics, and reports.
Conclusion: Build a Results-Oriented Culture
Some businesses suffer from presenteeism, which is when employees show up to work while sick or unable to complete their duties, rather than taking needed time off. This can quickly lead to mental stress and decreased productivity. It is important to focus on results, not hours logged, if you want to get the best results from your remote employees.
When it comes to remote teams that you can’t physically check in on, you must trust that they are completing their tasks, even if you can’t be sure that they are logging the correct number of hours. When you focus on results, your employees will want to work hard to achieve their goals, but if you force them to work an arbitrary number of hours, their productivity will likely go down.
Overall, focusing on hours worked isn’t necessarily the best way to measure your employees’ productivity. A hybrid approach of measuring time worked and evaluating output-based measures is a great way to see how productive your employees are. This can also lead to higher employee satisfaction and well-being. Several studies have proven that shorter work weeks can lead to higher quality work and happier employees.
Are you ready to help your team focus on what matters? Rather than looking at working hours and productivity, let us find you a solution that works for your business. Contact us today for more information and try Time Tracker free for 14 days.