{"id":4989,"date":"2025-05-12T20:06:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T20:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4989"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:45:21","slug":"the-benefits-of-flexibility-about-how-we-spend-time-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/the-benefits-of-flexibility-about-how-we-spend-time-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Flexibility about How We Spend Time at Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Set-in-stone schedules and fixed deadlines might not be a good way to help with planning and coordinating with colleagues. How everyone in an organization thinks about time\u2014including work schedules and deadlines\u2014has a huge impact on well-being and morale. Flexibility is likely to help boost productivity and quality.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Abbie Shipp<\/a> of Texas Christian University, who coauthored an Academy of Management Annals article on that topic <\/a><\/em>with Karen Jansen<\/a> of North Carolina State University, said that having a predictable schedule can help some workers with planning, but being too much of a stickler for a rigid schedule\u2014can backfire.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe can be so focused on the future that we obsess over what might happen instead of savoring the current moment\u2014we focus on the future at the expense of the present,\u201d Shipp said. \u201cIn terms of how we allocate our time, it\u2019s important for us to plan, but we also need contingencies, because the future is so ill-defined.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI think in terms offinding ways to bothlook ahead but also be flexible\u2014that\u2019s a real key skill that we don\u2019t have,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people say, \u2018I’m not strategic; I don\u2019t think long-term but I\u2019m very into the present moment.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIn contrast, other people do plan for the future very well but may struggle to adapt when such plans don\u2019t materialize\u2014we need people to navigate both, to be able to look ahead, but also be flexible.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Shipp said that we need to redefine the ways in which we think and talk about time, especially in the workplace.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe need to reimagine things that we think are fixed in objective time, but they’re not, for example, work schedules,\u201d Shipp said. \u201cWhen do we take breaks, whether it\u2019s to get lunch or coffee or tea or go to the bathroom? What do deadlines mean?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

An early bird might be most productive from 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. while a night owl might be most productive from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m., neither of which aligns with a standard nine-to-five workday.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say I start a new job in a structured office. We get here at 8:00. Most people take an hour-long lunch from 12:00 to 1:00. They leave by 5:00,\u201d Shipp said. \u201cBut if my biological clock doesn\u2019t work like that, I may want to work until 1:00 or 2:00, or maybe I break for only 10 minutes at lunch, and later in the afternoon, I take a break of 50 minutes.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cRethinking some of these things that we think are more fixed and structured can pay dividends,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe we can go more with the flow\u2014instead of saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to work on this project from 8:00 to 10:00\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ve worked an eight-hour day,\u2019 say \u2018If I\u2019m done after working from 9:00 to 4:00, then why can\u2019t I leave a little early?\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt certainly benefits workers and managers alike to be a little bit more flexible with time.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Shipp\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n