Can Less Work Increase Productivity?

My commute is a Wi-Fi-free 1.5 hours each way. When I’m not exhausted to the point of unconsciousness, I take the time to read. It’s the only point during the day I don’t feel guilty for not doing work in one form or another. But, surprisingly enough, through using this time to read completely unrelated books, magazines and newspapers, I’ve come up with more work-related ideas than I do during the workday.

You might have experienced this kind of so-called associative thinking while in the shower, chopping up onions or getting your hair done. It’s the kind of “eureka” moment you can’t really encounter while rapidly juggling tasks at work. And yet the ideas that come about from these moments are the ones that tend to make a difference at work.

This recent CNNMoney.com column reflects on the emerging fact that “what scientists have only recently begun to realize is that people may do their best thinking when they are not concentrating on work at all,” as Fortune staffer Anne Fisher writes. Fisher goes on to reference the Google model to illustrate the importance of giving employees room to be relaxed and creative in their everyday jobs.

But not everyone works for Google. Most of us spend our time between meetings flipping through Outlook, Word and the Web like 13-year-olds with their TV remotes, iPods and cell phones. Do we simply have too much work to think?

You might not have a guilt-free, hour-point-five you can take on a daily basis, so perhaps the answer lies in the hands of the employer -- which is really who stands to benefit from giving employees more room to breathe.

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