Last week at the annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) (https://chi2023.acm.org/) we presented two papers that look at how computer assisted protected time on the calendar(using the Focus Time feature in Viva Insights) for focused work impacts productivity in the short term, and helps people experience positive outcomes in subjective measures of workplace engagement and wellbeing in the long term.
In the paper titled "Focused Time Saves Nine: Evaluating Computer-Assisted Protected Time for Hybrid Information Work - M... led by Vedant Swain, we looked at how setting aside time specifically for focused work impacted their other activities during the work day. Analyzing the data from 116 consented users across two studies we found that 1) Focus time resulted in 8-11% more engagement in coding and development compared to other calendar events such as self-assigned protected time, unscheduled time and meetings, 2) engagement in Focus time does not change total volume of work, but allows reprioritization of when an information worker does certain activities and 3) engagement in Focus time during the workday reduced after hour activities.
In a followup study reported in the paper titled "Focus Time for Wellbeing and Work Engagement
of Information Workers" (Focus Time for Wellbeing and Work Engagement of Information Workers - Microsoft Research) Koustuv Saha and I compared feedback on long term subjective metrics on workplace engagement and wellbeing between 15 Focus time users and 10 control users across 6 weeks. We found that participants using computer assisted protected time to do focused work reported increased energy, eagerness to go to work and work immersion and had less difficulty in detaching from work, compared to those who did not use computer assisted protected time. Participants in the Focus time condition also reported lower anger, lower frustration, and lower tiredness, and increased happiness during intense work and increased resilience after they used Focus time for six weeks, compared to their reports before they started using Focus time.
Together, the two studies highlight the value of setting aside time to do focused work through computer assistance, manifesting in positive impacts on workplace engagement and wellbeing, both in the day-to-day activities and long-term metrics. Additionally, we found that protecting time for focused time on the calendar did not reduce overall engagement in meetings and communication applications, but simply helped them reorganize - assuaging concerns that focus time may impact worker ability to participate in collaborative activities.
Many thanks to my amazing list of collaborators Vedant Swain Javier Hernandez Brian Houck Koustuv Saha Jina Suh Ahad Chaudhry Tenny Cho Wendy Guo and Mary Czerwinski who continue to push on this frontier.
