During the break, which typically lasted just 27 seconds, participants stopped working but remained at their workstation. They wanted to find out whether fleeting breaks could boost productivity or reduce stress, so they created an artificial office environment and invited 20 participants to “work” there for two days performing a “highly repetitive” data entry task.Įach participant was allowed one microbreak for every 40 minutes that they worked. The technique was invented in the late 1980s by researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Ohio and Purdue University in Indiana. Though the breaks are tiny, they can have a disproportionately powerful impact – studies have shown that they can improve workers’ ability to concentrate, change the way they see their jobs, and even help them avoid the typical injuries that people get when they’re tied to their desks all day. They can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes and involve anything from making a cup of tea to stretching or watching a music video. He was inadvertently describing what experts call a “microbreak” – any brief activity that helps to break up the monotony of physically or mentally draining tasks. ![]() It turns out that, for once, Brent may have been onto something. The whole room stares back in lethal silence. ![]() He demonstrates the technique by bursting into a solo manic cackle though it only lasts about 30 seconds, it seems to go on forever. “Laughter is the best medicine,” he says, explaining to his staff that it reduces stress and that he likes to do it several times during the working day. There’s a scene in the classic sitcom The Office, where David Brent – the ultimate cringe boss, with zero self-awareness – is doing some motivational speaking.
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