Rory Sutherland

It's accepted that people have a break if they want to chill out by having a sandwich in front of Netflix rather than wandering around to Pratt. It doesn't bother me personally. But also, I would argue that a lot of people would be much more productive in work if they started work early, took a three-hour break in the middle of the day, and then worked later.

Now, commuting makes that impossible to do, but I would argue that your energy levels would be much better managed if you did take a break in the middle of the day with the additional bonus that you'd actually get a bit of sunlight. Yeah.

Now, commuting makes that impossible to do, but I would argue that your energy levels would be much better managed if you did take a break in the middle of the day with the additional bonus that you'd actually get a bit of sunlight. Yeah.

Now, commuting makes that impossible to do, but I would argue that your energy levels would be much better managed if you did take a break in the middle of the day with the additional bonus that you'd actually get a bit of sunlight. Yeah.

If you're a Scandi, okay, in the winter, you go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark. So effectively, your exposure to natural light is Saturday and Sunday for three or four hours. So that doesn't bother me, the fact that people are actually choosing.

If you're a Scandi, okay, in the winter, you go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark. So effectively, your exposure to natural light is Saturday and Sunday for three or four hours. So that doesn't bother me, the fact that people are actually choosing.

If you're a Scandi, okay, in the winter, you go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark. So effectively, your exposure to natural light is Saturday and Sunday for three or four hours. So that doesn't bother me, the fact that people are actually choosing.

If you look at writers, you know, the people who are professional writers, journalists, novelists, they're very different, by the way, but all of them have sort of conditions under which they can and can't write. And they vary. Some people demand complete silence. Some people go to a cafe because they want some background noise.

If you look at writers, you know, the people who are professional writers, journalists, novelists, they're very different, by the way, but all of them have sort of conditions under which they can and can't write. And they vary. Some people demand complete silence. Some people go to a cafe because they want some background noise.

If you look at writers, you know, the people who are professional writers, journalists, novelists, they're very different, by the way, but all of them have sort of conditions under which they can and can't write. And they vary. Some people demand complete silence. Some people go to a cafe because they want some background noise.

But what these people clearly know is that they can optimize their productivity by controlling the conditions in which they write. And it strikes me as pretty plausible that's true for other forms of knowledge work. where some people can't work if there's any background noise or chatter. Other people can't work in complete silence because it spooks them out.

But what these people clearly know is that they can optimize their productivity by controlling the conditions in which they write. And it strikes me as pretty plausible that's true for other forms of knowledge work. where some people can't work if there's any background noise or chatter. Other people can't work in complete silence because it spooks them out.

But what these people clearly know is that they can optimize their productivity by controlling the conditions in which they write. And it strikes me as pretty plausible that's true for other forms of knowledge work. where some people can't work if there's any background noise or chatter. Other people can't work in complete silence because it spooks them out.

I've known writers who, if there's someone operating an electric drill seven houses down, they're incapable of producing anything. There are other people who are spectacularly disciplined. Now, it does strike me that you will make people more productive if you allow them some degree of autonomy to control the environment in which they produce their work.

I've known writers who, if there's someone operating an electric drill seven houses down, they're incapable of producing anything. There are other people who are spectacularly disciplined. Now, it does strike me that you will make people more productive if you allow them some degree of autonomy to control the environment in which they produce their work.

I've known writers who, if there's someone operating an electric drill seven houses down, they're incapable of producing anything. There are other people who are spectacularly disciplined. Now, it does strike me that you will make people more productive if you allow them some degree of autonomy to control the environment in which they produce their work.

Now, I'm not suggesting that's five days a week, but I'm suggesting it seems to be implausible that giving people some degree of autonomy won't have benefits. But the interesting thing is, if you look at business, we've imposed loads of things on people, open plan offices, email, Slack, Teams, et cetera. without any real investigation of the effect it has on productivity.

Now, I'm not suggesting that's five days a week, but I'm suggesting it seems to be implausible that giving people some degree of autonomy won't have benefits. But the interesting thing is, if you look at business, we've imposed loads of things on people, open plan offices, email, Slack, Teams, et cetera. without any real investigation of the effect it has on productivity.

Now, I'm not suggesting that's five days a week, but I'm suggesting it seems to be implausible that giving people some degree of autonomy won't have benefits. But the interesting thing is, if you look at business, we've imposed loads of things on people, open plan offices, email, Slack, Teams, et cetera. without any real investigation of the effect it has on productivity.

But we don't really care because the staff don't really enjoy that, so we don't have to worry about it. But the second you have an experiment where the workforce seem to welcome it, suddenly everybody, oh my God, they've gone to Sainsbury's on Thursday lunchtime. Well, they're going to have to go to Sainsbury's at some time anyway, okay?