Knowledge work from home will flourish if we listen to brain science
As I was reading the excellent New Yorker magazine article Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever? that traces the evolution of office space over the past several decades, it occurred to me that permanent work-from-home knowledge workers may gain an ancillary benefit beyond escaping cube farms or open space office designs. I’ve written previously about best-selling author Scott Halford’s book Activate Your Brain: How Understanding Your Brain Can Improve Your Work — and Your Life in which he summarizes research from neuroscience about taking regular breaks from brain-intensive work. At the time of my article, Halford had amended the recommendations in his book based on the latest research findings: It’s optimal to take a 17-minute break after 52 minutes of brain work.
Certainly, some of the benefits of taking regular breaks have made it into office space designs. Many startups and other leading Silicon Valley tech firms have incorporated break rooms with gaming areas that often include ping pong, billiards, foosball, and more. This trend has extended beyond the most well-known tech firms. My own 40+-year-old company just two years ago made a significant investment in modernizing one of its offices. Sure enough, the renovated office included a dedicated game room.
Unfortunately, it’s often only in the true startup cultures, which frequently involve very long working hours, that leaders are much more interested in results than the appearance of how the work gets done. In those cultures, without much, if any management hierarchy, knowledge workers may take frequent breaks while working well into the evenings.
Contrast this with most post-startup company cultures. A management hierarchy exists, and office workers feel the need to appear productive by spending extended periods of time at their desks working on tasks. Anyone who has worked in this all-too-common office environment knows that knowledge workers do take breaks at their desks. It’s usually in the form of browsing the internet. Let’s admit it, we’ve all looked over our shoulders to see if anyone has noticed we’re “slacking off”.
We all take these breaks from work requiring deep concentration because our brains require it, as neuroscience research supports. However, these are not quality breaks and do not serve the purpose of turning our brains off for some quality down-time. While there are gaming rooms in some offices, I guarantee most employees would not feel comfortable taking a 17-minute break after every 52 minutes of work, under the prying eyes of supervisors.
Here then is the potential game-changer (pun intended) for those permanently working from home during and post-pandemic. With recent research showing that productivity working remotely from home is better than working in an office setting, knowledge workers need to leverage their increased flexibility to become even more productive. Short, 15–20-minute breaks throughout the day should be baked into one’s workday. Preferably, these breaks should involve some sort of physical activity such as walks, yoga, or weight training.
My wife and I during the pandemic have been regularly taking walks or other healthy breaks during our workday. With Microsoft Teams on my phone, which I might check 1–2 times on a typical break, I can let a co-worker who has pinged me know exactly when I’ll be available to connect. Invariably, when I resume work at my desk, with a refreshed brain, I’m ready to re-engage and to be very productive once again. Moreover, insights often spontaneously occur to problems I was pondering prior to the break.
I encourage everyone with a long-term or permanent work-from-home arrangement to modify their workday and incorporate quality breaks. The paradigm of working continuously 8–5 with just a lunch break must vanish forever from knowledge work. With the results already in that remote workers are more productive than office workers, it’s time to flourish and become more productive and healthier in the process.
