If you feel a bit more sluggish than usual at work today, Cyberloaf Monday is to blame. This ominous occasion occurs the day after the start of daylight saving time, and a recent study shows that workplaces all over the world experience a colossal drop in productivity today compared to previous or future Mondays.
Penn State assistant professor D. Lance Ferris and colleagues from Singapore Management University, the National University of Singapore and Virginia Tech University studied Google data from a six-year period and discovered that the annual time change causes employees to lose about 40 minutes of sleep on Sunday night. When they report to work on Monday, these workers are far more likely to cyberloaf, or waste time on the Internet that should be spent in more productive pursuits.
"In the push for high productivity, managers and organizations may cut into the sleep of employees by requiring longer work hours," the researchers wrote. "This may promote vicious cycles of lost sleep, resulting in less time spent working, which could result in more frantic pushes for extended work time. Managers may find that by avoiding infringement on employee sleep, they will get more productivity out of their employees."
The study's authors propose that employers and legislators take these productivity losses into account while considering daylight saving time. Do you feel more fatigued than usual today? If so, how are you fighting the urge to waste time at work?
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