Reimagining The Work Day Takes A Lot Of… Well, Work!
At MatchPace, we talk frequently about “reimagining the workday” and “optimizing your pace at work.” But what do those phrases mean? And more importantly, why do they matter?
This question is easier to answer as an individual–we all want more work-life balance, more flexibility at work, and to focus better and be more productive. It can be harder to wrap our minds around why striving after these things benefits an organization, too. Doesn’t an organization benefit the harder and longer its employees work?
Maybe not. Consider these statistics:
50 percent of the hours in the traditional workday are wasted, whether through meetings that don’t produce results, constant interruptions, distractions like social media, or ineffective systems to manage our workload.
Managing our work takes too much time, with 60 percent of our work hours dedicated to electronic communication and internet searching and nearly 30 percent reading and answering email.
Studies show it takes 15 minutes to re-focus after an interruption; and Dr. Gloria Mark of the UC, Irvine found that knowledge workers are interrupted nearly every three minutes. That’s 20 times and hour.
23 percent of employees report feeling burned out at work very often or always, while an additional 44 percent report feeling burned out sometimes.
Job burnout accounts for an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion in health-care spending each year and has been attributed to type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal issues, high cholesterol and even death for those under the age of 45.
As many as one million people per day miss work because of stress. Studies suggest that all of this translates into a loss of anywhere from $150 billion to $300 billion annually for U.S. employers.
We could go on, but hopefully you are starting to get a picture of the realities of the modern American workday: overwork, lack of focus, little productivity, and burnout.
These challenges aren’t limited to specific types of organizations–all organizations, whether private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit, startup or well-established company, face these challenges. These challenges reflect the growing pains of a workforce, especially as we seek the work-life balance that wasn’t possible for previous generations.
These realities of the modern workday hurt organizations. Overwork, wasted time and burnout lead to higher turnover rates, lower productivity and output per hour worked, increasing healthcare costs for employees, more sick days, and missed opportunities. Ultimately, these realities hurt an organization’s bottom line, which is bad for everyone.
It can feel overwhelming, if not impossible, to tackle these challenges. But fortunately it’s far from impossible, and more importantly, it’s imperative that we address these concerns before they do real damage to our health, our relationships, and our creative problem-solving. We need the best talent doing their best work–without burning out–to solve the real problems facing us today. It’s not a pipe dream, and we are going to show you how to achieve it!