Know the hour most golden for you

Although there is good news on increasing productivity, employees are having long workdays with too many emails and virtual meetings for virtual collaboration in remote working. According to Harvard Business School, during the pandemic employees sent 5.2% more emails daily. Employees are sending around 8.3% more emails after business hours. They are sending more emails and attending more meetings, presumably coping with more distractions since the pandemic started-it is lengthening the workdays, blurring life and work. 

Increasing numbers of emails, meetings, and distractions are the main culprits of long exhausting workdays. Statistics suggest an average employee experiences 56 interruptions a day, and 80% of interruptions are trivial. Distractions typically cost 3 hours per day, and this wastage amounts to $24 – $36 Million in wages annually for an organization with 1000 employees.

The top distractions:

The top distraction culprits include:

• Excessive emails: An average employee checks their email 36 times in an hour and gets 304 weekly business emails on average. 
• Frequent meetings: Most employees end up attending 62 meetings per month and end up spending 31 hours in unproductive meetings every month.
• Incessant interruptions: Employees typically face 56 interruptions per day and use 2 hours per day to recover from them.

It’s time to deal with these distractions, boost productivity, and take charge of your life. The key to improving productivity and attaining a work-life balance is to fully use your ‘golden hour’. 

According to a lifework balance strategist Sabrina Cadini, “Your golden hour is a period when you are extremely productive and able to accomplish more than usual.”

Here’s our take on the golden hour and handling distractions like a pro. Read on.

Know your golden hour

Golden hour is the time when you are alert, focused, committed, and most motivated. It’s when you dive deep into your work and make the most of that time. Agreed, you may not have total control over your work schedule, but you can always begin somewhere. Start with blocking a few hours for work that’s on priority and needs your undivided attention. You may soon realize you function optimally in the first few hours of the day or are more alert at noon when you have some grip on your schedule. Whatever works for you, make sure that you seize that time because that’s where your golden hour is.

The core concept behind the golden hour is to cut out distraction to offer an ecosystem that inspires productivity by enabling your employees to organize their focus.

Businesses can create a focused work environment to facilitate the golden hour. They can request employees to block all unnecessary notifications, avoid emails, meetings, and deny outside visitor access for one hour

According to a study, an organization with over 5000 employees can add $400 million yearly to the bottom line by utilizing the golden hour. The key benefits of the golden hours are:

• Enhanced quality of output
• Better time management
• Increased employee engagement
• Improved workforce utilization
• Minimized stress
• Improved work-life balance 
• Higher talent retention
• More family time 

Ignorance of the golden hour creates exhaustion and finally employee burnout. New Spring Health Study Conducted by The Harris Poll Explores How 2020 Events Impact Employees Mental Health study finds 76% of U.S. employees are currently experiencing worker burnout.

According to Gartner, the impact of employee burnout is severe. Mostly they take sick leaves or look for better opportunities in the market

Hence, seize the golden hour at work. Dream big and achieve more

In the next blog, we will discuss how to identify and allocate the hour that would be most golden for you or your team and make it radical and make it count. Keep reading and share your thoughts.