The most productive hours of the day – Infographic
What are the most productive hours of the day? As you can imagine, it changes between individuals. Some will be more productive at certain times of the day, some will be more productive in certain environments. So what are the most productive hours of the day? We asked 2000 UK employees to find out, and we’ve broken the results into categories so you can see where you fit in.
So as you can see, people are generally the most productive when they’ve had a sufficient amount of sleep, on a Tuesday, between 9-11am, are offered flexible working and have a to-do list. Where as employees tend to be less productive when they’ve had a lack of sleep, on a Friday, between 3-5pm, are working in a loud environment and tend to waste time with their colleagues, reading the news or are on their phone.
When looking at gender, you can see that:
Gender | Most productive when… | Least productive when… |
Female | · Have had sufficient amount of sleep · On a Tuesday · Are working alone · In a relaxed environment | · Have had a lack of sleep · Are working in a loud environment · On a Friday · Have a lack of energy as a result |
Male | · When they’re working alone · On a Tuesday · Have music playing · In a relaxed environment | · Are working in a loud environment · On a Monday · Had a lack of sleep · And have a lack of energy as a result |
By looking at the split by age, we found that with age – not only comes wisdom – but so does productivity. The 18-24 year olds gave themselves the lowest productivity rating and the 45+ year olds rated themselves with the highest productivity.
And when looking at productivity by sector or industry:
- Employees in the business sector work best in a relaxed environment (40.93%)
- Arts and design industry find that regular breaks have the most positive effect on their productivity (55.16%)
- Media, marketing and PR find that having a to-do list is best for them (54.38%)
- Those in utilities, manufacturing and transport find that working on their own keeps them the most productive (38.39%)
- The public sector and charity industry find that having a to-do list keeps them productive (46.93%)