The 52/17 Ratio of Doing Nothing
100% Rest?
In the early 1990s, I was a conscript in the Royal Netherlands Army. After my basic training, I was sent to an operational logistics company to assistant a Sergeant-Major. Upon meeting him, he shoved a clipboard into my hands with the words, “Welcome aboard soldier. From now on carry this wherever you go and look busy. If you don’t, someone outranking you will start making up stuff up for you to do; that’s my job, not theirs, so look busy.”
That was back in 1993, but I’ve noticed that, at all places I’ve worked since, most people are very busy being busy, but have very little to show for at the end of the day. In fact, a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that one in five employees spends at least a third of their time in the office “being busy” without being productive. In other words, they are very busy doing nothing!
In plain numbers, this adds up to at least 15 hours a week, or nearly 2 full workdays, of wasted time. In a year, this amounts to 780 hours or nearly 98 workdays. Imagine that! An average employer ends up paying 20% of his employees almost 100 days a year for “being busy doing nothing.” So what can we do about this?
The answer to this issue is actually surprisingly simple: To paraphrase the ancient Chinese sage Laozi, “Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.”
The 52/17 Ratio: Increasing Productivity
This may sound counterintuitive but, as the team behind the time-tracking and productivity app DeskTime found, fact is that the top 10% of most productive employees all have in common the ability to take effective breaks. In other words, doing nothing effectively actually helps productivity. Sounds great right? But what makes a break effective?
The secret behind effective breaks is the ratio between dedicated work and rest times. Instead of the traditional eight-hour “two-breaks-and-a-lunch” workday, with your employees doing a bit of work here and there, meanwhile checking their Facebook time-lines, Twitter streams or whatever other form of social media they subscribe to, it is essential they —not you— clearly separate their work and rest times into regular intervals.
There are a number of methods out there. For example, the Pomodoro Technique in which your employees would work 25 minutes full out, followed by a 5-minute break. They repeat this cycle four times, followed by a 15-minute break, and then start over again. Although many swear by this technique, experts now claim that a 52/17, or let’s say 50/20 ratio is more effective as it’s a more natural rhythm. By following this set pattern, your employees may be physically working less time; they’ll be achieving more.
During the 52 minutes work period, you should expect your employees to entirely devote themselves to working to the best of their capabilities. Whatever they do, expect a 100%. If they are working, they should work 100%, but if they are relaxing, they should relax a 100%. They should take proper breaks, not be quickly answering an email, no cup of coffee at their desk; complete rest.
What to Do During the 17 Minutes Break
✔ Do some exercise – There are numerous exercises that can be done in the confines of an office. There are plenty of apps available for this, or check this video for some inspiration:
✔ Go for a coffee – There’s probably not an office tower without a coffee shop anywhere in Singapore.
✔ Take a walk, go outside – Not only will this clear the mind, it will also get some fresh air in the system to make the brain work better.
Grab something to eat – Replenish those energy levels. The best foods to eat to replenish glucose (good energy) are nuts, apples, pears, blueberries, cheese, fish meat, etc.
✔ Talk to colleagues – research shows that employees who actively socialize with their colleagues are happier at work, and are able to get just as much done as their non-socialising co-workers.
✔ Surf social networks – because this is their time, your employees should be allowed to do whatever they want.
✔ Watch funny cat videos – it’s been proven (?) that looking at cute pictures of cats and dogs actually makes your employees more productive.
To summarize, no one can be expected to be a 100% productive all day. As much as you want to get the most of your employees, it’s just not humanly possible. Concentration is like a muscle: It needs to rest to be able to function, and it shouldn’t be overworked, otherwise it’ll simply burn out and take longer to get back into the swing of things.
So, allow your employees some serious breaks during their workday. If 17-20 minutes every hour seems just too much, consider scheduling five or 10 every hour and observe what effect it has. The results might surprise you.
[T]here you are.
