Culture | The shocking truth about employee productivity

There is a common misconception at the heart of corporate culture that many would simply like to ignore. However, ignoring the hard truth about workplace productivity leaves absolutely no room for progressive dialogue or change.

It is a fact that for the vast majority of workers, mood, fatigue, wellbeing and any number of external factors can affect workplace productivity, and simply expecting an employee to focus solely on their job within the work day with no breaks or reflection time simply isn’t viable – nor is it actually beneficial for productivity.

This is the case because the length of the workday has very little to do with optimal human concentration; the eight-hour workday was designed for the age of the industrial revolution, not for workers in the digital age.

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In the 18^th Century, workers were expected to put in shifts of ten to 16 hours, which led to burnout, illness and unsustainable workforces. The concept of an eight-hour day was designed to combat this and was proposed by Welsh activist Robert Owen on the basis that dedicating eight hours each to work, recreational activities and sleeping was appropriate.