What’s Next for the Future of Work

During the expert session, Laura Giurge engages the audience through methods like a Q&A session, live demonstrations using slides, and interactive exercises where she asks the audience to share their experiences and hobbies outside of work. She discusses the importance of rethinking work innovations for our well-being and productivity, including the impact of email communication on productivity and work-life balance. Laura also shares strategies to manage urgent and important tasks effectively, introducing the concept of "time crafting" for creating temporal boundaries to pursue essential tasks with focus.

• Prioritizing Tasks for Maximum Productivity: In today's knowledge economy, focusing on strategic tasks that have the most significant impact on your goals is essential for both personal and organizational success. This includes completing complex projects, engaging in meaningful social interactions with colleagues, and pushing forward on big objectives.
• Managing Urgent and Important Tasks Effectively: In a fast-paced work environment, it's common to engage in counterproductive behaviors due to time biases and overload. To manage your time more effectively, consider practices like "time crafting," which involves proactively creating temporal boundaries to focus on non-urgent but essential tasks.
• Overcoming Email Urgency Bias: Email communication can negatively impact productivity and work-life balance due to the pressure to respond immediately. To reduce stress and improve communication, make expectations explicit by adding notes or marking emails as low urgency. Being mindful about signaling both high and low expectations is essential for effective email communication.

In this expert session, Assistant Professor Laura Giurge from the London School of Economics discusses the importance of rethinking innovations in the future of work for our well-being and productivity. She begins by sharing her background and introducing the topic of how careers have evolved, highlighting the significance of hobbies outside of work for our overall health.

 

Laura then introduces the trend towards more flexible work schedules, using an example of a job offer that allows employees to set their own hours while maintaining a 40-hour workweek. She presents research suggesting that while flexibility is desirable, it can negatively impact intrinsic motivation for work due to societal norms and expectations.

 

Furthermore, Laura discusses the negative impact of email communication on our productivity and work-life balance. She shares her personal experience of feeling anxious about responding to emails immediately, even when they are non-urgent or sent outside of working hours. According to research, receivers feel pressure to respond much faster than senders expect, leading to stress and performing costs.

 

To address this issue, Laura suggests that senders can make their expectations explicit by adding notes or marking emails as low urgency. She emphasizes the importance of being mindful about signaling both high and low expectations and making them explicit to others.

 

Moving on to productivity, Laura argues that in today's knowledge economy, work quality is not easily measurable by the number of hours worked or time spent at the office. Instead, focusing on priority tasks and achieving progress towards goals can have a significant impact on both personal and organizational success. However, factors such as technology-induced distractions and committing to too many future tasks can prevent us from focusing on these essential tasks.

 

To maximize productivity, Laura suggests minimizing distractions, making time for deep work, and prioritizing tasks that have the most significant impact on our goals. Some examples of priority tasks include completing complex projects, strategic planning, performance development, pushing forward on big goals, answering deliverables or plans for the day, and engaging in meaningful social interactions with colleagues.

 

Laura also introduces the concept of "time crafting," a proactive form of work redesign where individuals create temporal boundaries to pursue important tasks. This intervention includes planning, reflecting, and scheduling focus time for non-urgent but essential tasks while protecting focus time from interruptions and distractions.

 

The results of the study showed that employees who engaged in time crafting reported an increase in perceived performance, decreased burnout, and improved objective productivity. To experience these benefits, individuals need to feel supported by their team, leaders, and peers in engaging in this different way of working. Laura concludes by suggesting a team activity called "work with me" to help understand and coordinate around individuals' working styles and preferences.
 

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