Senior Client Partner, Global Account Leader and Sector Lead for Professional Services
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Skip to main contentFebruary 04, 2025
For most people, it appears, the workday is a constant struggle between being engaged in their work or completely frustrated by it.
According to a new survey, knowledge workers spend a little more than half the workday, or 4.9 out of every 8 hours, in focused, productive work. But what limits workers’ ability to focus isn’t just the nature of knowledge work or the need to give the brain a break from concentrating. Distractions—in the office or at home, be it responding to emails, attending meetings, or taking care of a sick child or parent—also significantly cut into workers’ ability to concentrate on important tasks. “Not every minute of every day is going to go into productive work,” says David Farris, global account leader and sector lead for professional services at Korn Ferry. Farris likens the distractions that so frustrate employees to the prep work needed before painting a house. “A lot of things need to happen before you open the can of paint and start doing the real work,” he says.
Experts say five hours of focused work per day is actually an improvement over past studies, which have estimated only 2 to 3 hours. Dennis Deans, vice president of global human resources at Korn Ferry, says the survey’s results underscore how employees have been able to adjust to remote work and achieve a work-life balance that allows them to be productive. “It suggests that people have settled into a good rhythm,” he says. Recent data bears that out—productivity, defined as the total output of the economy divided by the number of hours worked, has risen by 2% or more for five consecutive quarters. For comparison, the longest sustained streak in the five years before the pandemic was two straight quarters.
To be sure, AI has become a critical aid for workers, and experts observe that it may be increasing their productive time. Between 40% and 50% of workers say AI has reduced the number of tedious tasks they need to perform, freeing them up to solve harder challenges, do more creative work, or learn new skills. “If employees are able to deliver the results they are accountable for in fewer than eight hours, leaders should celebrate that,” says Korn Ferry senior client partner Maria Amato.
AI won’t cure all the boredom and frustration people experience in their jobs, of course. Critics say that people putting in barely a half day of real work is yet another indication of rising job disengagement and dissatisfaction. Surveys show that more than two-thirds of employees are disengaged from their jobs, for instance. Critics also say that trends like #bareminimummondays and #boredatwork express the frustration people feel about their lack of career opportunities, low pay, unmanageable workloads, and broken trust with their employers. “There are still a lot of people who show up to work, but don’t give it their all and just coast to get by,” says Farris.
For leaders, maximizing productivity is paramount, particularly in a slow growth cycle. But experts say the way to do that isn’t by loading up employees with more work. Instead, they say that efforts to increase engagement—like minimizing distractions, reducing stress, and building culture—will lead to greater productivity. “Making work fulfilling is the way to get more focused, concentrated effort out of employees,” says Ron Seifert, North America workforce reward and benefits leader at Korn Ferry.
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