01-17-2025
In our fast-paced world, many professionals pride themselves on working long hours. But new research from Purdue Center for Working Well Director Allie Gabriel and colleagues suggests this "ideal worker" mentality may actually be counterproductive.
Gabriel's study examined the day-to-day impacts of work hours on job performance using innovative methods including wearable sleep trackers and daily surveys. The results paint a nuanced picture of how our work habits affect productivity.
Working longer hours does appear to boost performance on that same day. However, these gains come at a cost: reduced performance the following day. Gabriel found that working late cuts into crucial recovery time, especially sleep.
The research introduces a "daily recovery cycle" model with four key stages: work, which is depleting for employees each day; after-work recovery time; sleep; and morning resource levels.
Longer work hours disrupt this cycle by reducing time for after-work recovery activities. Longer hours can directly cut into sleep time and can tempt employees to stay up later to squeeze in personal time or even stay connected to work-related thoughts.
In the study, sleep, the linchpin of recovery, emerged as the critical factor. Reduced sleep due to working longer hours led to several complicating factors: increased physical fatigue the next morning, lower psychological resilience and decreased work performance the following day.
These findings challenge the notion that working longer hours is always better. While occasional long days may be necessary, consistently overworking appears unsustainable and potentially harmful to long-term productivity.
Gabriel's research suggests organizations may benefit from:
By respecting the daily recovery cycle, both employees and employers stand to gain through more sustainable high performance.