For the study, researchers wanted to study worker productivity throughout the week, using computer usage as a metric for assessing that productivity. They studied just under 800 office workers at a large company for two years, keeping track of things like typing speed, typos, mouse clicks, scrolling, etc.
Then, they compared those usage patterns based on time of day, and day of the week, looking for any notable patterns.
And sure enough, if you’ve ever felt like your productivity drops off on Friday, this study found that to be true. Namely, computer usage tended to increase during the week, then showed a significant drop-off on Friday. There also tended to be more mistakes made on Fridays, and in the afternoon on any given day.
As study co-author Taehyun Roh Ph.D. explains in a news release, “Employees were less active in the afternoons and made more typos in the afternoons—especially on Fridays,” adding, “This aligns with similar findings that the number of tasks workers complete increases steadily from Monday through Wednesday, then decreases on Thursday and Friday.”
