This is why we need to ditch the 8-hour workday for good

With the world adjusting to post-pandemic life, everyone’s talking about the “new normal.” But what does that mean when it comes to how we work?

Yet once we get over the practical hurdles of the “new normal” there’s a deeper question to answer: How should the typical workday look when there’s no need for commutes, 9-to-5 schedules, and open-plan offices?

After looking through data, trends, and surveys from around the world (both before and during the pandemic), one thing became clear: The “new normal” workday should be much shorter.

Why the eight-hour workday shouldn’t be a part of the new normal

Before the pandemic, your life most likely revolved around an eight-hour (or more) workday. But in the new normal, that eight-hour structure should be the first thing to go.

As Deep Work author Cal Newport writes:

“Three to four hours of continuous, undisturbed deep work each day is all it takes to see a transformational change in our productivity and our lives.”

Here’s why:

1. Almost no one is “working” for eight hours a day.

Let’s start with some hard data. It doesn’t matter how long you spend in the office, chances are you aren’t working productively for eight hours a day.

Instead, data and surveys from around the world have found that modern workers are only truly productive for a maximum of 2 hours and 50 minutes a day.

But what about the other five-plus hours? They’re spent on nonwork activities like reading the news or social media, socializing with coworkers, taking breaks, or lost to multitasking, context switching, and endless meetings.

2. Quality of work (and happiness) drops sharply after a certain number of hours.

Even if you try to work more to make up for those lost hours, your productivity will hit a wall.

According to research from Stanford University, output and creativity sharply decline after 50 hours of working in a week. And it only gets worse the more you work. In fact, people who work a 70-hour workweek are likely to produce nothing during those 15-20 extra hours.

3. Our focus is limited to blocks of 20-90 minutes max.

The problem with long workdays isn’t just that we’re spending too long at work. It’s that we’re trying to spend all that time productively.

The human brain is more like a muscle than a computer. You can’t load it up with tasks without giving it breaks and proper time to recover. As research scientist Andrew Smart explains:

“The idea that you can indefinitely stretch out your deep focus and productivity time to these arbitrary limits is really wrong. It’s self-defeating.”

Instead, research shows that attention spans begin to decay significantly after 20 minutes while most people require a break every 50-90 minutes. (If you want to get technical, our brains go through something called ultradian rhythms every 90 minutes after which we need to take a break.)

4. Working fewer hours is linked to higher output, creativity, and even health.

Even better, working fewer hours—whether it’s a four-day workweek or shorter days—has been shown to increase productivity, inspire creative ideas, and keep teams happier and healthier.

How to build a four-hour new-normal workday (and still get tasks done)

So how do you create a shorter new-normal workday schedule that actually works? Unfortunately, creating a new schedule isn’t as simple as just saying you’ll work fewer hours. There are forces at play—both internal and external—that will make it incredibly hard to stick to your new normal, even if you know it’s better for your health, productivity, and creativity.

Here’s the step-by-step process we use at RescueTime to help teams and individuals take back control of their day.

Start by understanding your productivity baseline (i.e., know what a “good day” looks like). What gets measured gets improved: If you want to save money, you track your spending. If you want shorter, more efficient workdays, you need to track your time.

Time tracking is a great tool for understanding where your time is going, uncovering distractions, and building a better schedule. But more important, tracking your time helps you understand what a good day actually looks like for you.

If you’d rather go the manual route, you can track your time using a pen and paper. Just set a timer and write down what you’re working on in 10- or 15-minute increments.

After a week of data collection, you’ll be able to understand what your baseline productivity looks like.

How to find your productivity data in the new normal

The main RescueTime dashboard shows you some high-level stats about how you worked over the past week. But to get the data you need to build a more efficient schedule, you’ll need to dig deeper into a few specific reports:

Total time: How long do you actually work most days? This will most likely be lower than you think it should be. And that’s okay. It’s important to see that most people only “work” for 4-5 hours a day.
Productivity by the time of day: When are you most productive? This report shows you when during the day you’re doing productive work. By looking at the trends over a week, you’ll see your optimal work hours in the new normal.
Time spent on your core work: How long do you spend on your most important work? This is whatever task you’d like to do more of—whether that’s writing, coding, designing, or something else. Again, this is probably lower than you imagine.
Time spent in communication: How long do you normally spend on email, chat, and in meetings? These are activities that balloon your workday and that you’ll want to try to reduce.
Most distracted hours: When (and how much) are you losing focus? We can’t be productive all day. Look for times when you’re most likely to be distracted and either schedule breaks or cut them out completely.

Rewire your brain for focus

For most people, seeing their personal data is a light bulb moment. Even if you’re working eight-plus hours a day, you’re probably lucky to get two-plus hours of time for your most important work.

But this is good news. As Alex Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, told us: