How To Hack Your Job Productivity By ‘Chronoworking’ and Knowing Your Chronotype

Supporters of chronoworking believe that by aligning work hours with a person’s natural circadian rhythm, called a chronotype, they can achieve higher levels of productivity and mental acuity than they ever thought possible. More people are ditching traditional work hours and fine-tuning their work day to push their performance over the top.

New-age companies saw an opportunity to innovate their workforce by experimenting with employee hours, per Forbes. These companies figured there might be some overlap in increased productivity goals and allowing employees to work when they want.

Scott devotes the newsletter to extolling the virtues of chrono work, including regularly publishing an advice column called Work Woe. Scott responds personally to people asking about chronoworking, helping them navigate its challenges and overcoming obstacles like negative bosses.

Companies will “be looking more deeply into how our body clocks and natural dips and rises in energy should define our working day,” she said.

Simply put, a person would pick their work hours based on their natural circadian rhythm.

According to a survey carried out by Breus, over 55% of people reach peak productivity between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., 15% work better late at night, a separate 15% prefer early mornings, and 10% have a varying chronotype.

One study carried out at the beginning of 2024 found that 94% of people claim they worked outside of their most productive hours.

According to Drik Buyens, a professor of HR management at Vlerick Business School in Brussels, working from home during COVID allowed chronoworking to become more mainstream.

“No longer do we all spend an hour or so on a commute between the set times of around seven to nine in the morning, and we can truly understand when we are most productive and how to get the most out of our job,” he said (via the BBC).

Speaking with BBC Worklife, Molly said some employees begin their work day in the early morning hours, whereas others start in the afternoon and work until late in the evening.

“The approach has the added benefit of normalizing flexible hours for parents or those with other responsibilities that make it tricky to stick to 9-to-5 restrictions, ” she adds. “It levels the playing field.”

“Some people are morning people, some prefer the evening, and some are bang in the middle. We’re all different, and so we can’t be expected to thrive in the same environment,” she said.