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Blackout hours are a concept that more and more companies are beginning to adapt into their daily schedules. Unlike blackout periods, blackout hours are periods of time throughout the day where your office operations take a pause for an hour or two, depending on the preferences and needs of the company. The purpose of this is to provide a much needed relief and break and discourage employees from overworking themselves and working through meal breaks. We have adapted a culture that celebrates working overtime by choice and discourages taking breaks and resetting before tackling a new project. In short, we are expected to keep going no matter what. Having a forced break through every day can do a great deal to keep motivation and productivity high. When employees know they have a guaranteed pause in their day, they’ll oftentimes be more motivated to get their work done during the time they have to do it. Plus, it can be a great time to take care of any administrative tasks that you need quiet operations for. We spoke to some top leading professionals about this concept and how important it is for businesses to adapt them going forward.  

 Avoiding Burnout  

Your employees get tired. Plain and simple. The overarching purpose of implementing a mandatory break is to avoid burning out your team while still encouraging the highest level of productivity. “Company wide blackout hours are not just for employees and staff. They’re also for the administration and your team leaders so that everyone can have an actual moment to breathe during the day,” said Michael Hennessy Founder and CEO of Diathrive. Often when employees get breaks, leaders and managers are still working. This allows your team leaders to get a much needed break as well.  

In addition to keeping space for all your team members, these policies will help you avoid employee turnover and constantly having to search for new team members. “Blackout hours are essential for avoiding burnout and employee turnover,” Brandon Amroso, Founder and CEO of electrIQ marketing said. “The more rest your team can get from their work, the more refreshed they’ll feel upon returning. Our work culture largely takes ‘breaks’ for granted but they are not only part of our labor laws, they are important parts of the day where employees can eat, rest or catch up on their lives outside of work.” Too often is it the case that employees will work through their meal breaks, or eat while still working. Blackout hours are a way to set the same expectation for everyone, as CEO of Seabreeze Management Isaih Henry tells us, “It’s important to give your organization a real break during the day. This sets a fair precedent for everyone to follow so that people are not overworking themselves through these set breaks during the day. Overworked employees make mistakes and don’t stick around, this will help retain your talent pool in the long run.” 

It’s important to set a fair expectation for everyone so that all employees feel like their value and performance is being fairly evaluated. Going above and beyond is great, but it can cross the line into overworking. “Many workers will, on their own accord, choose to work through their breaks,” said Ayal Ebert, Co-Founder of Particle. “While this is ok when it’s a personal choice, it’s not ok if that employee feels like their value is tied to working longer and harder hours than they’re required to. Making daily blackout hours creates a forced break that allows all of your team members to be on the same playing field.” 

Blackout hours are becoming more and more common in today’s business world. Company leaders and owners are starting to realize that without scheduled rest, a lot of workers will feel like they can’t. John Wu, Co-Founder and CEO at Gryphon said this, “It is very important to adopt daily company-wide blackout hours. This will give your employees time to rest and give them more energy during the rest of the day. It will also help avoid employee burnout and help you retain your employees in the long run. Adopting company-wide blackout hours is becoming more and more common in today’s working world and your company should do all they can to adopt them.” 

Allowing Time for Other Activities 

One way that humans tend to stay focused and productive is by breaking up their activities. Differentiating what we do throughout the day helps keep our brains flexible and limber, leading to better and more creative decision making. “It’s been proven that humans tend to be happier with varied activities throughout the day. Our brains like activity and they also like state change. Meaning that moving from a state of working to a state of relaxation is actually a healthy way for your brain to flex its different state of being,” said Kashish Gupta, Founder and CEO of Hightouch on the subject.  

This can be a great way to organize your day if you’re running or working in a remote office. Blackout hours allow for scheduled breaks so that people working from home aren’t having their schedules taken advantage of. Jason Sherman, Founder of TapRm had this to say, “Blackout hours are especially important for offices and companies that employ remote workers or operate in a hybrid model. This is because our time can easily be demanded of us when we are at home, but we still need scheduled rest and breaks from our jobs. Blackout hours are a great solution for these employees.” This can potentially open the door for your employees to stay organized in their own lives and in their own homes, which is an important part of staying motivated and productive while working from home. “Company wide blackout hours can allow for some simple but practical tasks to take place, such as cleaning your workspace. Making time to organize can be difficult when you’re tackling your daily workload, but if you have a set break time every day you can use one of them to organize your space and clear out any clutter that may have developed over the week,” said Daniel Patrick, Founder of Daniel Patrick. 

Employees should use this time to do something restful that prepares them for the rest of the day ahead. “Meal breaks are too often skipped by today’s young workers,” said Lauren Singer of Package Free Shop. “It’s essential to fuel yourself well, no matter what your line of work is. Even those sitting in an office need time to step away and eat something in peace.”  

 Communication and Workflow  

Of course, any business adopting blackout hours should be crystal clear in their communications as to what the time is for. “Make sure that everyone at your company understands the purpose of the blackout hours. Everyone should make a point to eat a meal and do something non-work related, no matter how small,” said Steven Vigilante, Head of New Business Development at OLIPOP. This might be a new concept for your company and employees, so make sure they understand exactly what the purpose of these hours are. Your team should be fully on the same page on how to spend that time and when to return prepared for work. “Part of the reason behind adopting blackout hours is to encourage a higher level of productivity,” said Dan Lewis of Convoy. “If we have regular intervals of time dedicated to refocusing, nourishing and refueling for the day our bodies will get used to that process. This way we can break up our day and get more done in the long run.”  

You can also pay attention to how you organize these hours at your company for the highest benefit of your blackout hours. Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of OSDB Sports had this to say “Think about how you can organize your blackout hours based on workflow at your company. There are likely hours that employees tend to get their best work done, and there’s probably a turning point after two to three hours where productivity declines. This is a great time to schedule your blackout hour so that everyone can feel accomplished before taking a break and refreshing themselves for the end of the day.” 

 Blackout hours are important because they allow for all members of the company to get a period of rest. This does a lot for productivity, but it also puts an overarching expectation for everyone’s hours that are dedicated to work. In a culture where many of us are working from home, this is an important thing to be purposeful about and make contextual change around.  

This content is provided by an independent source for informational purposes only and does not contain legal advice. Consult an attorney or financial advisor when making decisions. This information is provided by legal writers and does not reflect the views or opinions of The Daily Sundial editorial staff.