Workplace Research
Is Your 9-to-5 Fighting Your Body Clock?
Take the Workplace Energy Check and see if your diary is working with you or against you.
From the colleague who has cleared their inbox before you have even found your coffee mug to the one whose best ideas arrive just as everyone else is logging off, every office has its early birds and afternoon thinkers.
But while we might all be working to the same calendar, that does not necessarily mean our energy levels have accepted the meeting invitation.
With 62% of UK office workers saying their fixed working hours do not consistently match the times they feel most energised, we explored whether the traditional working day could be asking some of us to perform at exactly the wrong moment.
2,000
UK Office Workers Surveyed
We explored the idea of ‘chronoworking’, organising working hours or tasks around personal energy patterns. We looked at how energy levels differ between generations and industries, what is getting in the way of our most productive hours and whether a little more flexibility could help make the working day work harder for everyone.
Think you know when you do your best work? Take our Workplace Energy Check below to find out whether your diary is working with your energy levels or against them.
Take the Workplace Energy Check at the Bottom of This Page
62%
say their fixed hours don’t consistently match when they feel most energised
58%
work to fixed start and finish times
46%
say meetings regularly occupy their most focused period
41%
postpone demanding tasks because they feel mentally flat
Ready for Work, But Is Your Brain?
It turns out being at your desk and feeling ready to tackle your biggest task are not always the same thing.
More than half, 58% of office workers, work to fixed start and finish times, while 62% say those hours do not consistently match the times they feel most energised.
That does not necessarily mean their best hour falls outside the working day. Sometimes, it is simply a case of being expected to tackle a complicated task at 9am when your brain tends to wake up after lunch.
Meanwhile, 46% say meetings regularly occupy the period when they feel most focused. So, just as your brain finally gets going, your calendar decides it is the perfect time for everyone to run through their weekly updates.
Another 41% say they postpone demanding tasks because they feel mentally flat when those tasks are scheduled.
Sound Familiar?
Your to-do list might be perfectly organised, but your energy levels could have other plans.
Gen Z vs Baby Boomers, Who Is Most Out of Sync?
When it comes to feeling out of step with fixed working hours, the generations tell very different stories.
Almost three quarters, 74% of Gen Z office workers say their fixed working hours do not consistently match their energy peaks, compared with just 42% of Baby Boomers.
Millennials are not far behind their younger colleagues, with 68% reporting the same mismatch, while the figure falls to 55% among Gen X.
That creates a huge 32 percentage point gap between Gen Z and Baby Boomers.
But before anyone starts scheduling every twenty-something for the late shift, there is more to the story than age alone.
Say Their Fixed Hours Don’t Consistently Match Their Energy Peaks
32-Point Gap Between Gen Z and Baby Boomers
Someone’s role, home life, commute and control over their diary could all shape how well their hours suit them. A senior employee with room to rearrange their day may have a very different experience from someone whose schedule is largely set for them.
And, of course, every generation has people who spring out of bed ready to go and people who would rather enter lengthy negotiations with the snooze button.
The more useful question is when each person feels most focused, rather than which generation they belong to.
Creative Workers Are Feeling the 9-to-5 Clash Most
It is not just age that appears to make a difference. The mismatch between the working day and our energy levels also looks very different depending on the industry.
Office workers in marketing, advertising and creative services are the most likely to say their fixed working hours do not consistently match their energy peaks, at 71%.
They are followed closely by 67% of workers in IT and technology, while the figure falls to 59% among those working in financial and professional services and 48% in public administration.
Whether you are trying to crack a campaign idea, untangle a technical problem or work through a detailed report, feeling switched on can make a demanding task feel much more manageable.
Say Their Fixed Hours Don’t Consistently Match Their Energy Peaks
Of course, moving work around is not equally straightforward in every role.
A creative team might have room to shift a planning session, while someone responsible for providing a public service may need to be available at specific times.
But where start and finish times cannot change, could the order of the working day be a little more flexible?
Is the 9am Meeting Stealing Your Best Hour?
For early birds, the morning might be the perfect time to tackle the work that needs serious concentration. For everyone else, it might be the part of the day best reserved for emails, admin and quietly waiting for the first coffee to do its job.
The problem is that our calendars rarely know the difference.
With 46% of office workers saying meetings regularly land during their most focused period, protecting concentration time could be just as useful as changing the time people clock in.
After all, a later start will not do much for your afternoon focus if your entire afternoon is booked solid.
Chronoworking does not have to mean completely changing when somebody works. It could simply mean thinking differently about when they write, plan, analyse, brainstorm or work through their routine admin.
Even one small change to the working day could give teams something useful to test.
Your Body Clock Has Entered the Chat
There is actually some science behind the idea that people might perform differently at different times of day.
Chronotype describes a person’s natural tendency towards earlier or later sleep and activity patterns. Put simply, it can help explain why one colleague is ready for a brainstorm at breakfast while another seems to find their best ideas later in the day.
However, the science is not quite as simple as ‘night owls should start work later’.
So, being the first person online does not automatically make you the office productivity champion, and starting later is not a guaranteed shortcut to getting more done.
But alongside sleep, interruptions and the type of work you are doing, when you tackle a task could still be worth thinking about.
2019 study led by the University of Birmingham
38 Larks and Owls
Researchers found that morning larks performed better during early-morning reaction-time tests, while night owls recorded their fastest reactions and lowest reported sleepiness at 8pm.
2025 systematic review
29 of 64 Studies
Found evidence of younger adults performing better at their preferred time, particularly when it came to attention, inhibition and memory. More than 80% of the studies reviewed found no overall effect of chronotype alone on cognitive function.
Take the Workplace Energy Check
Before blaming your calendar for everything, it helps to work out where the mismatch is actually happening. Think about a typical working week and answer these four questions.
Is your 9-to-5 fighting your body clock?
Four quick questions to find out whether your diary is working with your energy levels or against them.
