- Survey suggests that blocking out time during a workday can lead to higher productivity and reduced burnout
- Workers regularly incorporate breaks into their calendars, but also anticipate regular interruptions
- More companies adopting days without meetings to accommodate workers
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
While remote work days offer some convenience and flexibility for employees, they have also frequently experienced burnout due to social isolation or extended working hours. A recent survey by the online scheduling platform Doodle suggests that time blocking can be an effective way for companies to address this problem.
Time blocking involves setting up a block of time during the workday where you dedicate yourself to accomplishing a certain task or set of tasks. About four in five respondents in the survey of 1,000 workers said they used calendars to stay focused, with about two-thirds reserving time on a regular basis and just over half blocking off times of more than an hour.
Other findings included:
- A total of 83.6 percent saying they could get more done, with 72.2 percent saying the practice helped prevent burnout
- 71.4 percent report reserving regular breaks of 15 or 30 minutes, although 14 percent said they can only just brief periods of down time
- Just 10 percent said they don’t experience interruptions during their workday, with 32.5 percent saying they anticipate interruptions when setting up their calendar
- More companies are supporting days without meetings, with 58.5 percent saying their business has done so and 55.7 percent saying meetingless days occur weekly
