Workin' 3 to 12, What a Way to Make a Livin'

Get up, drink coffee, go to work. Break for lunch (maybe). Work some more, go home, a little downtime, then bed. Start again tomorrow. It's what we all do, but is it really the best way? Working 9 to 5 isn't natural nor very productive, says John Wesley.

Certainly makes sense to me. Productivity ebbs and flows over the day, and the brain needs time to recharge. Concentrating on a single task for many hours at a time just doesn't work, and managers can usually tell when work is the result of a peak-energy breakthrough or a post-coffee-buzz lull. Wesley notes that he only has 3 to 4 "highly productive" hours in him each day. Sounds about right.

As Wesley alludes, those hours can be stretched by rearranging when you work into the productive hours and using the downtime to do menial tasks: Errands, eating snacks, deleting spam, IMing with the boss. But doing so often requires a more flexible work schedule and less adherence to the old be-at-your-desk-by-9 system. Is telecommuting really the answer for radically boosting office worker productivity?

I'd delve further into Wesley's and my own arguments against offices (they consume lots of energy, cost money to maintain, and are havens for nasty germs and chemicals), but honestly, my productivity is starting to ebb and I feel a nap coming on.

Does your workplace offer flex time or telecommuting? Has it made you a more effective worker... or do people take advantage of the policy? 

LINK: Why the 9 to 5 Office Worker Will Become a Thing of the Past