Milieu Insight, a consumer data and analytics company has asked employees how productive they are on a work day*, and found that they are typically productive for five to six hours a day, particularly in the first half of the day.
- An average of 45% indicated that they are usually productive 5 or 6 hours a day
- Seven in 10 (72%) said that they are most productive from 8 am to 12.59 pm, whereas 19% chose 1 pm to 6.59 pm
Milieu Insight recommends that managers give employees the time and space to complete urgent tasks, or those requiring concentration/flow in the mornings. If meetings are held in the morning, they should be time-efficient. Activities requiring less effort such as attending seminars and team-building activities are ideally be held after 1 pm.
Employees usually spend under an hour on non-work activities during the workday
- Seven in 10 (72%) indicated that they spend less than an hour on non-work activities
- Social media is the top activity (64%), particularly in Thailand (72%); snacking (45%) and chatting with friends (36%) come next
- Almost a fifth (17%) also spent some time during their workday on housework as this is made possible by work from home (WFH) arrangements
Milieu Insight notes that managers cannot expect employees to be 100% productive every day, or
that all employees take breaks the same way. When asked if they prefer one long break in a work day, or scattered short breaks, responses were divided.
*Based on Milieu surveys with n=500 full-time employees each in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam; conducted in January 2022.
