Why breaks at work matter more than ever
Scale-ups are a wild ride. Hair’s on fire, but at least you can stick your head out the window! Besides, when you are ripping down the track, the last thing you want to do is slow down.
Why do we keep coming back for more? Because these work environments are supremely rewarding and challenging experiences. I love the intensity of focus and purpose. Besides, it is exhilarating to see the immediate impacts as you build from the ground up! That said, despite the adrenalin and continual progress, I often felt like I was further behind with every step forward. Sound familiar?
For many of us, we are addicted to the energy that can only come from working with a team with the highest degree of ownership. Transparency ensures everyone knows how their individual contributions make a difference. Instill a sense of pride and purpose, and you spend less time building employee engagement and more on establishing an environment wherein they can thrive. This is what we call sustainable high performance.
Easy to say. Harder to do. Finding balance is supremely difficult, especially when we feel like we are behind schedule. I remember one company where I was annoyed that some team members were taking smoke breaks. No matter how much we had to do, they “eased” out of the office for a cigarette. If I disregard the health risks of smoking, I am frightened at my ignorance. I truly misunderstood the positive impact of breaks!
I often thought “who the heck has time for a break??”. What was worse, I even thought that breaks reduced the team’s efficiency. Little did I realize how it reduced errors and improved effectiveness! Why was I frustrated? I lacked the evidence! Naively, I focused exclusively on the short-term results rather than the system or how we achieved the results. (Read Simon Sinek and James Clear)
Some of you are yawning, saying “we already know that wellbeing contributes to performance and engagement”! The results are far more significant than I had originally thought. One of our customers is a high-performing global consultancy firm. We found that individuals with high wellbeing are 7x more likely to be a high performer and 3x more loyal. Those are big numbers!
So now what? Learn, or make the same mistakes?
Beyond grateful to be back in the “game” as a first-time founder of an incredibly exciting impact start-up called NudgeLabs. We offer bio-data powered coaching to make performance sustainable. Armed with my past lessons and tons of new evidence, we can make more informed decisions about team performance and wellbeing.
The perfect time to share a talk I had with an amazing person and Oxford PhD psychologist, Dr. Kerstin Jeding. She helped me understand the science behind breaks and the basics of stress, physical activity, sleep, and daytime rest.
Daytime rest, what is that?
“It’s about taking breaks and pauses during the workday, as well as, the evening”, Kerstin explains. “Really? But, I’m paid to work, not rest, and I have too many critical priorities to take a break”, I say. That gets her started on something she does annoyingly well: she quotes research. A Swedish doctoral thesis from last year proved that something as simple as taking brief breaks during work can increase wellbeing at work in already healthy people. And on average, your mood in the evening is better if you take breaks during your workday. It’s hard to argue with an Oxford PhD scholar who’s worked her whole career with work-related stress. She can’t stop herself now that she got going. Do you know what’s the most important part of an intervention for someone who is stressed or at risk of burnout? Balancing stress with rest and recovery.
No time for breaks at work?
Sure, I understand that breaks are beneficial, especially if you are experiencing physical signs of stress. I also understand you need to sleep well if you are busy and recover between your work days — I won’t argue with that! But healthy people sneaking out for breaks (smoking or not) instead of contributing to the goal? No way!
“You see, breaks are not a cost, they’re an investment”, Kerstin explains. “Breaks during work are investments in health and wellbeing, and such investments typically have an ROI of 5 or more.”
I’m still not convinced. It wasn’t my future wellbeing I was concerned with when I was busy, it was getting the job done. Breaks did not seem to contribute to my KPI’s. Being too polite to smile at my naivety, Kerstin instead keeps preaching with the relentless optimism of a missionary in an unenlightened land. She continues, “do you know that a single breathing pause will make you respond healthier to stress, no matter if you take that pause before or after that stress occurred? It will also reduce your anxiety and make you more alert which means you’ll work better just after such a break.”
Now, she can see that she is sparking some kind of interest with that very last one, so she goes on: “Shane, in your job, you need your cognitive abilities to stay sharp throughout your day, right?” “Eh, yeah”, I respond. “Good, then take breaks! Your decision-making ability is a finite resource that needs recharging. Your natural focus span is much shorter, not nearly a full workday, or even a half workday! Companies have shown statistics from their top 10% most productive employees, and guess what they have in common — they take breaks! They don’t work more than their colleagues, they take more breaks, and that’s what’s making them so efficient.” Now I’m interested. Can I get more done if I take MORE breaks? How do I do it?!?!
4 ways to improve recovery during the workday
In summary, Kerstin begins just to let me understand that she can quote another long list of research to corroborate each point, it’s really easy:
- Take the break before you need it (yup, before you feel fatigued)
- Take a break from any work you do and switch off mentally too from work
- Step away from your workstation (as it helps with 2)
- Choose an activity that could be recovering for you at this moment, such as:
- Movement break
- Fresh air through a window or outdoors
- Mindful activity (or a mindfulness exercise)
- Winding down (or a relaxation exercise)
Kerstin’s advice is to take at least one longer break such as your lunch break, and sprinkle the rest of your day with 1–5 minute microbreaks. I ask: “Is that what those top 10% productive people did?”
“No, the most efficient took even more breaks, approaching 25% of their work time: They worked on average for 52 minutes, had a 17 minute break and then started over again”, Kerstin responds.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Being more healthy, and at the same time, getting more done by taking more and longer breaks during work? Well, in the interest of science, of course, I’ll try it. Since I am crazy busy and need to be efficient, let’s start today!!!
We are NudgeLabs and we are making high-performance sustainable. We offer bio-data powered coaching for high-performance organizations. Do you want to know more about the benefits of taking breaks and how to start? Don’t hesitate to contact us — we would love to talk!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shane Correa : Co-Founder & CCO at NudgeLabs — www.nudgelabs.com
Listen. Learn. Lift. Team builder. Committed to making performance sustainable through wellbeing. Culture and leadership fanatic. Working for a more diverse, equal, and inclusive world. Extensive experience in B2B SaaS Customer Success and Sales including CCO & VP CS. SLT member taking two companies through hyper-growth and PE Exits.