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What a way to make a living: Employees still tied to 9 to 5 workday

Rebecca Barnabi

Someone tell Dolly Parton her song is still relevant in 2022.

According to LinkedIn’s The Work Shift, the pandemic gave rise to working from wherever, but not necessarily whenever. American employees are still tied to the standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday, whether they like it or not.

However, a new survey of 10,000 office workers around the world from Slack’s Future Forum revealed that flexible work schedules are essential. Ninety-four percent of employees want to control their work schedule, and 84 percent want to control their work.

Flexible works schedules of working from home have created higher productivity. Employees with flexible schedules report 29 percent higher productivity and 53 percent greater ability to focus during hours they set for themselves as work hours.

“The person who is best placed to decide how they should work is the individual themselves because they know what makes them productive,” Alexia Cambon, Gartner’s Director of Research, said.

According to The Work Shift, other research revealed that the brain can only handle four hours of cognitively demanding tasks, such as writing or strategizing, per day. Employees can only dedicate themselves to about five projects at any given time before risking burn out.

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca J. Barnabi is the national editor of Augusta Free Press. A graduate of the University of Mary Washington, she began her journalism career at The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. In 2013, she was awarded first place for feature writing in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Awards Program, and was honored by the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2019 Media Honor Roll Program for her coverage of Waynesboro Schools. Her background in newspapers includes writing about features, local government, education and the arts.