The next pandemic is burnout - Jane Piper

I’d expected productivity to decline during the pandemic. As a psychologist who studies focus, I’d predicted people would be distracted by homeschooling, exhausted by being always on and anxious about their health, finances and family.

It would be harder to focus and get work done with remote work, constant change and high-stress levels. But as the stats came in, productivity didn’t decline; it stayed stable or even increased slightly. Why is that? And at what cost?

Long days and longer nights

The reason productivity hasn’t declined is clear – most people are working longer hours. A study of three million workers showed that they averaged nearly an hour more a day than when they went to work at an office. These longer hours come from an explosion of virtual meetings and e-mails. What used to be a five-minute exchange at your desk became a 30-minute full-on Zoom call.

What could be a friendly banter in the tea room is now a flurry of WhatsApp’s multi-tasking while you are on a video call (with the camera off, of course). Then add in some “forced fun” with virtual coffees or drinks to suck up another hour.

Work-life boundaries became so blurry as the working day now starts earlier...