Everyone wants employees to work as productively as possible. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to separate myths from evidence-based truth.

For example, you might have heard that concentrating and working hard for longer hours will make you more productive. That’s potentially true for specific individuals, but the average person will quickly see diminishing returns as they become fatigued. Eventually, those long days will put you at risk of burnout.

Research shows that regular breaks make you more productive than keeping “your nose to the grindstone.”

Luckily, you don’t have to rely on questionable productivity strategies. You can turn to data-driven research to see what actually helps people succeed.

The importance of work breaks

When you have a lot of work to finish, it might sound reasonable to hunker down and try to finish it all at once. Taking breaks just wastes time, right?

Maybe you’re the kind of person who can power through an all-nighter. However, the typical person needs work breaks to remain productive.

One study shows that prolonged periods of work lead to emotional exhaustion. A person might retain the physical ability to move easily, but they feel so emotionally depleted that they can’t concentrate on tasks. The more focus a task demands, the faster a person depletes their energy reserves. Similarly, demanding tasks are much harder to focus on when a person feels emotionally drained.

Few industries push employees more than the healthcare sector does. Most nurses (65% to 80%) work 12-hour shifts. Many nurses have three- to four-day workweeks, so they pack nearly 50 hours of work into a short period.

It’s not surprising that these overworked professionals report extremely high burnout rates. One survey shows that 11.6% to 19% of nurses feel burnout very often. It’s a mental health crisis growing within the healthcare system.

While this research looks at a specific industry, the lessons apply to every type of work. When you push people to the edge, they feel tired, disoriented, and depressed.

Scientific evidence supporting work breaks

When you search for scientific studies about work breaks, you’ll run into many articles about the importance of taking time off. Those usually refer to disconnecting from work after leaving the office for the day, during the weekend, and vacations. Critical research highlights why you should encourage people to balance their work-home lives as well as possible.

There’s less information about breaks taken during the workday, but that’s starting to change now that ergonomics researchers have taken an interest in the topic. Generally speaking, the evidence shows that employees who take frequent breaks become more productive than counterparts who grind through the workday without disconnecting from tasks.

Still, there’s a lot of ongoing work break research from teams at organizations like the American Psychology Association.

Optimal break strategies

Productivity experts have developed several break strategies to optimize productivity. Your state probably requires some type of break during the workday. For instance, you probably have to give employees a 15-minute break after a few hours of work. If they work a full day, you almost certainly have to give them a 30-minute lunch break.

Don’t let state requirements prevent you from exploring other break strategies. Those are just the minimums. If adding breaks to the day boosts productivity, you could get more from your employees while supporting their mental and physical health needs.

Microbreaks stand out as an option worth exploring. They last about 10 minutes, sometimes a bit shorter, but they rarely last more than 10 minutes. Surprisingly, these short breaks can have remarkable benefits on employer perception and productivity.

The research shows that microbreaks can:

• Improve job satisfaction
• Give cognitive systems (brains) opportunities to avoid the overload that hurts performance
• Increase motivation

How people use their work breaks might also matter. For example, employees who take the opportunity to spend time outdoors often report feeling more refreshed. Those who use the time to talk to loved ones returned to work feeling more invigorated. Employees who play games or browse social media feeds report less conflict between their personal and work lives.

Some people will likely benefit more from specific activities during their breaks. Employers shouldn’t dictate how people spend their downtime, but they could encourage employees to explore options and discover activities that make them feel positive and refreshed.

Implementing effective break routines

So, how do you implement effective break routines that will optimize your employees’ work productivity?

Keep in mind that the same approach might not fit everyone’s needs. Some organizations take a flexible approach that lets workers take breaks as needed. Of course, that requires extensive trust that employees won’t abuse the system. (It could make sense to focus on productivity goals instead of the hours worked. Not all businesses have this flexibility, though).

Interestingly, some research shows that taking short breaks randomly improves learning outcomes. At some point, you might want to implement a system that randomly gives each employee a one- to five-minute break each hour.

Encouraging employees to focus on their wellbeing is key to finding your team’s optimal strategy. Request a demo to learn more about how RemoteWorx can help!