Is it time we said ‘goodbye’ to multi-tasking?

When a new email lands in your inbox, how quickly do you react?

Back in 2001, Thomas Jackson published research showing that office workers reacted to most of their incoming emails within 6 seconds. Speedy! Work resumed over a minute (64 seconds) later, with emails found to interrupt work 96 times in a typical 8-hour workday.

Granted, this research was conducted over two decades ago. And email had only been widely used since the mid-1990s, so people were still becoming au fait with using it. But consider how many disruptions must be caused today, given the present day worker receives an average of 120 emails every single day!

What’s the relevance of these interruptions to your role as an SBL? Whilst you might take advantage of muting notifications to lessen distractions, you won’t be immune to the effects of multitasking. Contrary to popular belief, doing more than one task at a time can take a toll on productivity, whether that’s immediately opening that red email icon that’s disrupted your current workflow, or juggling five ‘priority’ jobs. 

And though multitaskers are often lauded for their seeming ability to undertake numerous activities at a single time, even brief mental blocks created by switching between tasks can cost up to 40% of a person’s ‘productive’ time. That’s according to David Meyer, PhD, and it applies to the time your team spends toggling between different e-systems to complete a single task. 

For instance, extracting employee absence information from your MIS and inputting it into your payroll process. When you’ve got more than one system open, you’re multitasking – and you’re using up valuable time simply moving between different digital environments. 

Over two decades ago, an experiment saw young adults switching between different tasks, like solving maths problems or classifying geometric objects. Unsurprisingly, each switch saw the participants ‘lose’ time, and at increasing rates as tasks got more complex or unfamiliar. And when switching to a task they knew better, participants got up to speed quicker. 

How does this relate to your team, nearly twenty years on? Well, though each switch could be as miniscule as a few tenths of a second, they can add up to significant amounts when we’re repeatedly moving back and forth between tasks.

Reducing the need for your team to multitask or toggle between numerous e-systems to complete a single task improves the efficiency of the activity, and decreases room for error. In school and MAT central teams, that starts with having as much information as you can relating to one specific activity in a single, central place.

It’s similar to the invention of the supermarket, built to unite all products in one shop to make shopping more efficient. We didn’t lose the specialisms of our fishmongers, greengrocers, and butchers – they were brought under one roof to improve the shopping experience of the public, and free up time otherwise spent travelling.

In the same way, one-stop systems to manage activities like HR and compliance mean your team isn’t having to spend time moving from one system to another and remembering the most effective way to use them. They’re familiar with the appearance, the navigation, the way they work, meaning they’re also more likely to feel confident to use their initiative to problem-solve. This leads to greater staff satisfaction, helping to reduce both minor and major frustrations that can build up over time and cause a greater problem down the line.

In a busy world when time feels increasingly tight, using it wisely is key. And we’re here to help you unlock the true power of your time!

Find us at EdExec Live this June where we’ll be diving into the value of your time even further!

For now, discover consolidated and rationalised management of your HR and compliance functions. Visit: www.weareevery.com or speak to Phil Treanor, Head of Sales, on 0113 518 4558.

This is a sponsored article brought to you by Every

To find out more about how Every could benefit you, come and chat to them at Education Executive Live 2023. Book your tickets here!