Survey: Most productive day of the work week — is Monday?

NEW YORK — Working in a hybrid environment? Chances are, you prefer to kick off the work week from the office. That’s according to a recent survey of 2,002 employees, which finds 46 percent of hybrid workers prefer to start their week from their company’s headquarters, compared to just 20 percent who favor the comfort of their couch.

Regardless of where people work, results also show Monday is the most productive day of the week (28%), especially among introverts (39%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Canon U.S.A., Inc. in connection with the launch of AMLOS (Activate My Line Of Sight), an office solution for hybrid work, the survey uncovered the challenges employees can face in communicating with co-workers, and how these differ based on personality type.

Has hybrid work helped improve employees’ communication skills? Nearly two-thirds (65%) of those who split their time between their home and office seem to think so, including more introverts than extroverts (82% vs. 62%).

While 88 percent of introverts think the hybrid work environment makes them feel like they can come out of their shell, they’re also more likely than extroverts to sometimes find this work model overwhelming (80% vs. 64%). Regardless of where they work, many introverts chose lack of feedback or communication as their biggest daily hurdle (32%), while many extroverts’ biggest barrier was too many channels of communication (21%).

hybrid work

Seeing everyone is a major factor for workers

Overall, nine in 10 employees find it challenging to speak up at work, with nearly two-thirds sharing this sentiment while working remotely. Some of the reasons include everyone speaking at the same time (47%), a preference for visual or text-based communication (43%), and not seeing their co-workers simultaneously (40%).

Video seems to have played an integral role in streamlining co-worker interactions, as well as improving productivity. Eight in 10 people who turn on their video while working (1,722 respondents) say meetings feel more productive when everyone else does, as well.

Many respondents also think they’re better able to interact with co-workers when they can share documents, images, and videos during a meeting in real time (66%) and see everyone who’s in a meeting (58%).

“As tech continues to evolve, employers need to keep workers engaged,” says Kohei Maeda, marketing supervisor, Canon U.S.A., Inc, in a statement. “Video is one part of the equation, but often requires complementary tools to help with effective communication in real-time.”

Seven in 10 (70%) respondents agree new tech tools, such as apps and software, can improve communication at work.

“Companies should equip employees with tech that can improve interaction and allows everyone to engage equally in meetings. When everyone is on the same page, regardless of location, they can not only feel like they’re physically present with the team but are also more empowered to contribute,” Maeda adds.

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,002 employed Americans, including 1,018 hybrid workers, was commissioned by Canon U.S.A., Inc. between September 21 and October 13, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).

YouTube video

Follow on Google News

About the Author

Sophia Naughton

Meet StudyFinds’ Associate Editor, Sophia Naughton. Sophia graduated Magna Cum Laude from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication directly focused in journalism and advertising. She is also a freelance writer for Baltimore Magazine. Outside of writing, her best buddy is her spotted Pit Bull, Terrance.

The contents of this website do not constitute advice and are provided for informational purposes only. See our full disclaimer

Comments

  1. Your comment around “IT guys could not get their head around why I would need more than one monitor” caught my attention. I work in IT, and your use case is so obvious, there are only two reasons why you were getting stonewalled: 1) Your IT folks are truly dense, or 2) (And this is FAR more likely) They are putting out the “company line” but aren’t at liberty to tell you that. In other words, the executive team has decided what “productivity” looks like, and decided they aren’t going to spend the money. I see it every day.

    1. Gregory,
      I’m stupefied…Multiple monitors is not considered productive? What planet are the decision makers living in?
      Executive Teams, please see an example below to help understand revenue loss:
      —The commerce site is not accepting credit card transactions on the site. Considered an emergency, management of your IT department is notified. All hands on deck for root cause discovery and fix ASAP. Employee requires to look through QA website to find cause of glitch ASAP, while simultaneously refreshing the live commerce page, ensuring the fixed piece, just updated, is indeed root cause. Fixing the issue of convoluted systems’ inability to process transactions. With two monitors, the employee can see both pages simultaneously to quickly see results. As opposed to taking a longer period of time due to the need of viewing/selecting one site at a time. With a second monitor both sites can be viewed at a quick glance to quickly view the update in QA has fixed the commerce site. This method is tenfold more productive than saving TEN dollars per month on the rental of an extremely helpful, time saving, second monitor.
      Decision makers, ask yourselves? Is spending ten dollars worth the unacceptable user experience, cart abandonment, loss of company trust, loss of a purchase and worst, customers’ patience for a website’s failure along with short attention spans. Customers move along to a different website where they can utilize their form of preferred payment quickly and easily without frustration of inadequacy.

      Fully agree with your sentiment, Gregory!

  2. Hello,
    On behalf of my fellow introverts, working from home helps such personality “come out of their shell,” 88% as per survey. At the same time, working from home is also considered “overwhelming,” 80% as per survey.
    To me, these opinions seem bipolar.
    What would the introvert personality really prefer?
    Coming out of your shell – grow, develop, advance, succeed, thrive, shine, expand, make strides and many more great ways of displaying the type of employee you really are, what you can bring to the table and show how awesome you really are.
    Overwhelming work model – what’s become so overwhelming to make you feel being at the office work becomes less or now overwhelming? Survey states the hurtle is lack of feedback or communication. Since when does constant feedback become so overwhelming? When feedback is really needed, please, check your managers calendar, see their availability, and “advance, grow, succeed” and initiating a quick, am I going in the right direction with this project or task?”
    If working from home helps to “come out of your shell” a conversation from a comfortable place, such as your home, can demonstrate how you’re thriving and succeeding. When on a comfortable level the feedback conversation with your manager may be productive tenfold. Where your, my fellow introverts, replies, questions, overall conversation including your own feedback to your manager’s feedback will make you and your work shine, your shell opens up and confidence flourishes.
    Please, pull yourselves together and initiate a plan that will tone down feeling of being inundated.
    As the poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright, E. E. Commings, whose work is themed on the relationship of the individual to the masses and to the world, inspiringly quoted:
    “We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
    You can do it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *