New Data from project management software Teamwork shows productivity levels throughout the year.
December has been hailed as the least productive month of the year, according to the study.
The company looked at over 25 million tasks completed by users in the last 12 months and found that December is almost half as productive as October, which nabbed the title of the most productive month.
While it is no surprise that fewer tasks get done in the last month of the year, it is interesting to see the trends within this period. The single most productive day is the 1st of December, while the second week is the most productive overall.
The company found that productivity begins to drop off in the third week of December and drops by half during Christmas week. In the last week of the year, only a small percentage of tasks get completed with less than 8% of December tasks completed.
This is a stark contrast to the US where December starts slow and productivity grows week after week, perhaps due to Thanksgiving.
Different from the UK, the third week is when most tasks get ticked off with the most productive day title going to the 17th of December, which last year landed on a Thursday.
Commenting on the data, Peter Coppinger, Co-Founder and CEO of Teamwork said:“The data revealed that productivity peaks in the third week, most likely because people realise they’re running out of time and want to get any remaining work completed before Christmas week. Our study also found that around 60% of tasks are typically completed by Wednesday. We would recommend aiming to have most of your workload for the year completed by the 15th of December to avoid the end of December slump”.
Five tips to be productive in December:
Usually, 60% of tasks are completed between Monday and Wednesday. Considering the calendar this year, try to get all work done before 15th Dec.
Assign all essential work at the start of the month to decrease stress and maintain quality.
Ask your colleagues and clients when they go on holiday and plan accordingly to deliver on time. Especially during Covid times, many employees accumulated annual leave days.
Aim to finish delayed projects as opposed to starting new ones. Get your backlog clean for the start of the year.
Source: Written from press release.
