The Times Of The Week When Productivity Plummets, Why We Get Tired During Virtual Meetings, And How Rewards Hurt Innovation

Cognicent | May, 2026 | Newsletter

Welcome to the May edition of our Insight Articles!

In this insight, we explore the times in the week when productivity plummets, why we tire during virtual meetings and how rewards damage innovation.

We can probably all agree that there are times of the day and week where we notice our productivity plummet, resulting in decreased quality and making us more prone to errors. While having a sense that these things occur is one thing, researchers out of Texas A&M University sought to find the hard evidence to prove it. Using computer usage data across a two year period, researchers were able to find the most and least productive periods for employees, with their findings highlighting important considerations for how we structure our work.

They found:

Computer activity tended to increase as the week went on from Monday until Thursday

Activity decreased in the afternoons of each day

More errors were made in the afternoons compared to any other time of day

The least productive day of the week was Friday and also happened to be the day of the week where the most errors were made too

Consider

When it comes to planning the tasks for the week, do you maximise the productive periods in your day/week?

For your team, do you assign them tasks during the productive parts of the day/week?

Do we ever assign ourselves or our team critical tasks during the afternoons or end of the week when we don’t need to? How could we structure the timing of these tasks to fit in with our more productive periods?

Article Reference:

Taehyun Roh, Chukwuemeka Esomonu, Joseph Hendricks, Anisha Aggarwal, Nishat Tasnim Hasan, Mark Benden. Examining workweek variations in computer usage patterns: An application of ergonomic monitoring software. PLOS ONE, 2023; 18 (7): e0287976 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287976

As human beings, we love the path of least resistance, and the onset of virtual meetings has been another avenue for us to do that. However, while preserving our precious energy might be a benefit, there are well documented downsides to virtual meetings. From isolation and lack of connection to fatigue and boredom, while some of these are just a reality of virtual meetings, some are very avoidable and it might just come down to a very simple fix. Researchers out of Aalto University looked at why people become fatigued during virtual meetings. Original thoughts were around mental overload, but their research has found it to be the exact opposite!

They found

Meeting format (virtual or in person) had little impact on the productivity of already engaged employees

Employees with low engagement, however, tired more easily during virtual meetings

The tiredness came not from mental overload but mental underload due to the limited cognitive cues associated with virtual meetings

Cameras turned off in virtual meetings added to the fatigue of employees

With limited cues, employees would then engage in other tasks in a bid to keep themselves stimulated, however this attempt at multitasking meant that information was not retained effectively

Consider

When you hold virtual meetings, are people keeping their cameras off? Is there an opportunity to shift the expectations around this?

How could we engage people in virtual meetings more effectively?

If we have disengaged employees, do our meetings need to be virtual or could we make them in person to generate more cognitive cues?

Article Reference:

Niina Nurmi, Satu Pakarinen. Virtual meeting fatigue: Exploring the impact of virtual meetings on cognitive performance and active versus passive fatigue.. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2023; DOI: 10.1037/ocp0000362

It almost seems like a no brainer that when someone does something exceptional they receive a reward for doing so. Whether it’s a trophy or a medal, a financial bonus or a prize, it seems to be the way the world works. However, there are a variety of unintended consequences associated with rewarding behaviour. Many studies show that it decreases our internal desire to perform, while others show that it decreases the quality and quantity of our output. However, a study conducted out of Washington University found that rewarding innovative work also has the capacity to stifle future innovation, highlighting another cautionary tale about the side effects of rewards.

Researchers found

When we reward people for their new and innovative ideas, recipients begin to identify as a “creative person”

Identifying as a “creative person” can then bring on additional stressors associated with being a recognised innovator by which greater levels of expectation and scrutiny are applied to all future innovations

The catch to this greater expectation and scrutiny is that innovators may then opt out of future innovations because its safer. At the end of the day, you can’t get scrutinised for an innovation you didn’t create!

In essence, rewarding innovation can create a fear of failure where people avoid putting their ideas out there as it might threaten their creative identity

Consider

Are our rewards at work offered purely for outcomes or do we find opportunities to reward the successful process that lead to the outcome too?

Are there opportunities to encourage and reward the learnings from failures, not just the success stories?

Article Reference:

Dirk Deichmann, Markus Baer. A recipe for success? Sustaining creativity among first-time creative producers.. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2022; DOI: 10.1037/apl0001019

We hope that you have a safe, well and productive rest of your week.

– The Cognicent Team