Microbreaks at Work – How Are They Being Utilized?
The idea of a “corporate athlete”—an employee who is able to sustain high levels of performance irrespective of the work pressure and of the many changes happening around—for long was considered elusive.
Then productivity science started expanding in its understanding and entailing the expansion, the importance of introducing microbreaks at work was realized: it promised to holistically address the requirements to create a corporate athlete.
If research and studies are to be believed, conducted by the business community itself, it looks as if the concept of microbreaks has delivered on the promise. More and more companies are finding that all their high performing employees tend to take microbreaks during work.
Inspired by these findings, companies have now enacted policies in which they encourage their employees to take mini-breaks during working hours.
But could this strategy be lacking in insight?
The Many forms of Microbreaks
You see, employees can use a microbreak in different ways—use social media, take a walk outside, have a gossip session with their business peers or get their regular dose of coffee.
Microbreaks can take many forms.
As such, the highly productive employees, who served as the reference for the enactment of these policies, could well be utilizing their microbreaks in a completely different way as to other employees?
Some readers may ask, does that make any difference, for a microbreak is a microbreak after all?
Coffee Breaks – They are Not Productive!
For instance, take coffee breaks.
There is a perception that coffee makes you feel energized. After all, caffeine is a strong stimulating agent.
But did you know drinking too much coffee can actually make you feel more tired? Medical experts term this phenomenon as adrenal overload. This article explains in detail the downsides of drinking too much coffee.
And coffee breaks can be largely counterproductive, this conclusion cannot only be made on medical grounds, but also on an actual workplace research – conducted by Dr. Charlotte Fritz.
Dr. Charlotte is an I/O Psychology expert who has closely studied the many aspects of productivity science, including which type of microbreaks can prove to be productive and which type can prove to be counterproductive.
In her research, she specifically points out that coffee breaks are associated with higher fatigue.
Microbreaks That Make a Difference
In the context of this entire discussion, it can be safely concluded, that yes, microbreaks can boost employee’s productivity—but only those forms of microbreaks that make a difference. For that, companies will have to delve a bit deeper and then infer accordingly, so that the management and the employees can optimize their time management strategies for better.
Chrometa is a time tracking app that can be installed on PC or Mac, allowing users to expand on the details of how they utilize their time while performing a task.
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