By Leo, Radha & Lisa
As winter months hit in the northern hemisphere, days get shorter and daylight becomes a scarce resource. With the cold weather often also comes drowsiness, lethargy, and fatigue.
Despite this change in the seasons, the expectations for employees in the workplace remain the same. Office work starts at the same time early in the morning, even though it is now pitch-dark. When workers call it a day at 5pm it could as well be midnight when you look outside. But still, there are meetings to attend, deadlines to meet, and expectations to be productive and perform well on the job. Can this system work without taking a toll on workers´ mental health and well-being?
Reading about this phenomenon you find lots of headlines dealing with this giving tips on staying productive in winter. There are suggestions on how you can push yourself and shouldn’t let yourself go. Exercising, eating well, and socializing surely are healthy habits, but is it really the responsibility of the individual to ensure their productivity does not decrease in winter? Doesn´t this narrative promote an unhealthy expectation that we owe our employers productivity and that we must push our boundaries and ignore the signs of our body?
What happens to our bodies in winter?
To understand our needs better we first need to understand what changes in our bodies in winter. Human beings are not machines that can just work at any time with the same quality. Our bodies need rest and food in order to function and generally we are pretty complicated living beings. Our bodies have a schedule for all the biological processes that are going on. They don’t happen at random times but in very specific time frames. We go to sleep at night and wake up when the sun has risen outside. Responsible for this is our circadian rhythm.
Info: The circadian rhythm is the internal 24 hour body clock that coordinates the timing of biological processes like hormone distribution, digestion or simply waking up in the morning. The strongest influence on this rhythm is light so it is directly linked to day and night. When synchronized correctly, the internal processes of the body are connected to the external environment.
Within this rhythm, daylight stimulates the release of cortisol, the hormone that keeps us awake. At dusk, melatonin production begins, which is the hormone that induces relaxation and sleep. “Morning light is of utmost importance when it comes to synchronizing one’s circadian rhythm with the body’s environment and time of day” says Ali Amidi, Associate professor and researcher at Aarhus University. “As long as there is light stimulation, melatonin production is suppressed. Light has an uplifting effect on the motivational state” he explains.
In winter the lack of natural light causes the circadian rhythms to shift. “This shift can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), reduced sleep quality, fatigue, and decreased productivity at work or school”, explains Dr. Po-Chang Hsu, an expert for Medical Content at SleepingOcean, a bedding company. It can also cause “lowered alertness and hence a lot more mistakes made and tasks may take a longer time” says Ali.
Winter can literally be depressing: Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a specific type of depression that occurs in certain seasons of the year, mostly in fall and winter. This is another reason why the general mood of people in winter is lower, affecting their productivity and quality of life. Scientists have not yet explained the cause of this disease but believe it to be caused by shorter days and fewer daylight hours. Melatonin levels are also correlated to the disease.
SAD symptoms include increased sleep, daytime drowsiness, loss of interest and pleasure in doing hobbies, fatigue, social withdrawal, anxiety, weight gain, and problems staying focused. This is not a rare condition. In Sweden for example, 19% per cent of the population suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder or the “winter blues”, a milder version of depression that also affects people’s mood, motivation, and happiness.
Treatment can be light therapy, vitamin D supplementation, counseling, antidepressant medication, or a combination of them. However, the Psychology Daily recommends self-care as an important part of the solution. Planning pleasurable and physical activities as well as taking advantage of the little sunlight available can bring a change in what winter does to people.
Working in winter is a special challenge.
All of the above-mentioned biological processes have an impact on our everyday lives. The lack of sunlight makes us more tired and less productive. The limited amount of sunlight that falls completely into standard working hours makes it impossible for regular office workers to follow the advice to take advantage of it. Also planning any physical and pleasurable activities is more complicated in winter as the darkness that reigns after finishing work causes a drop in motivation and limited possibilities.
Dr. Hsu finds this phenomenon concerning. “Productivity in winter drops, and so does the employees’ performance. Many workers face seasonal depression and other mental health issues linked to circadian rhythm shifts. Naturally, this also affects their productivity and work quality.” He concludes that “keeping the same work schedule in winter as during the rest of the year doesn’t really make sense”.
Redbooth, a project management software that is used by professional teams to plan projects and create tasks, analyzed at what times their users worked most productively. This study is not representative but as it used a big amount of data from different companies, it can still be considered an important work. It illustrates the general work patterns of society well and fits into the overall picture that is supported by researchers.
One part of their analysis treated the different seasons of the year. While autumn was the most productive season, winter was by far the least productive. Compared to the most productive month (October), there is a 25% drop in January.
What can companies do?
Dr. Po-Chang Hsu recommends that “since there is a science to back [the productivity drop] up, it makes sense for employers to adjust the winter work hours. This may lead to improved focus, reduced fatigue, and better performance.”
With that in mind, the non-profit organization 4 Day Week Global collaborated with 33 companies to participate in a six-month long four-day-week experiment. It investigated the performance and effectiveness of companies combined with the well-being of their employees.
The experiment provided a wide range of well-being metrics which illustrated significant improvement from the beginning to the end of the trial.
As a result, workers’ physical and mental health, work-family, and work-life balance improved, as well as the quantity and quality of their sleep. Thus, 97% of them voted “yes” when questioned if they would like to proceed to work with this new method.
The experiment was not only approved by the employees but also by the companies. During the trial, companies witnessed an 8.14% growth in overall revenue. When compared to the same six-month period from last year, the increase was substantial, reaching 37.55%. Fortunately for workers, all companies that participated will continue working with this new model.
While the 4-day week is one way towards better well-being, there are other remedies as well. General work flexibility in terms of time and remote work can give employees possibilities to structure their day according to their needs and make space for active time and use daylight while available.
According to Vidur Singh, an international student who works a part-time job as a computer scientist in Grundfos, flexible work is a relief, especially in winter. His company allows him to work in flexible hours and provides eased deadlines which help him incorporate social activities and exercise into his routine. “Not having a supportive workplace in winter can be very stressful”, Vidur says.
The Finnish IT company Ambientia also offers their employees work from home as an option on any given day and only asks them to generally be available online between 10 am and 2 pm. Jenni Fredriksson-Bass, Chief People Officer at Ambientia explains that she notices her employees being motivated to get up early in winter as this helps them to get some exercise outdoors before they have to be online or finish their day early to be able to enjoy the daylight.
The company also offers sports activities and cultural happenings to their employers for free to motivate them to stay healthy, along with free psychological coaching sessions to provide a good framework for their workers.
So what now?
Science backs up the feelings people have about winter. The circumstances of this season indeed make us more tired and less productive. The expectations about our performance at work can put lots of pressure on people generally. Continuing to work a nine-to-five in winter in addition to these already existing expectations can cause exhaustion. Therefore it is important to practice additional self-care in winter, to get daylight, and to sprinkle everyday life with some fun and active moments.
In the classic nine-to-five this is hard to realize. Therefore it is the responsibility of companies and employers to ensure a framework that makes it easier for their employees to stay healthy in winter. It cannot be the working individual that has to perform at work and then go home and do self-care as another task just in order to stay productive for their boss. There are new ideas about our working culture and experiments that have proved to be beneficial for many; like the four-day week trial in Ireland. Most of the time, the companies profit from these experiments too. And happier employees are definitely better employees.
Photos: header: cc “fair use” flickr; source portrait: Radha