SYNC: Leveraging Time Diversity to Unlock Organizational Potential

Leveraging time diversity to unlock organizational potential

Elis Shin, Joana Chang, and Sebastian Muñoz Awad

MS Strategic Design and Management Capstone

Parsons School of Design, Spring 2023

We help organizations understand employee .time needs. and redesign work time

The way we work is .not working.

Only 33% of employees feel engaged in their jobs

Gallup, 2022

50.5 M people quit their jobs in 2022

U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2023

Time .is not. the same for everyone

60% of people are not highly alert in the morning

Putilov et al, 2021

2 hrs is the extra time burden on women at home

U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2022

3 hrs

the time disadvantage of families with children

Kalenkoski, 2011

Standardized time is a .missed opportunity.

Employees working onsite five days a week are

15% less engaged

Gallup, 2023

Companies with flexible work arrangements are

23% more profitable

Gallup, 2022

Time dynamic teams perform .better.

When employees have an intersectional understanding of time, work time is more inclusive, employees are more engaged and effective at their work, and companies are more profitable and productive.

How might we .make visible. the different ways people experience time?

Concept

Help organizations .diversify. their understanding of time

Help teams .make decisions. about work time with data

Help employees gain .agency. over their time

Research

The way we .think,. .feel and behave..

Time diverse organizations consider how an employee’s personal traits influence their time perspective.

When .energy. peaks and flows

Chronotypes are linked to biological predispositions. The optimal time for certain activities or rest depends on the time of day when an employee’s energy is the highest.

.Ideal time to work

Research shows that the way people schedule activities deeply influences their happiness. Empowering employees to practice agency at work boosts engagement.

Commitments and boundaries .matter.

Personal characteristics, work and non-work commitments, and life decisions influence how employee experience time.

Testing

We reached out to 97 people and interviewed 25

Spoke in depth with 4 experts in inclusive and organizational design

Across

20 organizations

Provide data for .decision making.

We saw that people rely too much on intuition when making decisions about time and need data to see if their assumptions are on track.

Surface .multiple. .dimensions. of time

We heard that people want their organizations to make space for difference and recognize that people have different expectations for work time.

.Accelerate. conversations

We learned that people are not inclined to talk about the traits that influence how they experience time, especially in remote workplaces.

Prototype

A .data platform. that creates time diverse organizations

Welcome Seba!

It’s important to know yourself and your team to find more eective ways to collaborate and co-design your time to work.

It all starts with you!

Complete my profile

My profile

My ideal week

My rules

About me

Name: Sebastián Muñoz

Role: Monetization

Teams: Squads:

Innovation Manager - IC Innovation

Direct reports:

None Leader: Chief Innovation Officer

Primary time zone: Eastern Standard Time

My time

My teams

What team are you working with today?

These are your saved teams:

Innovation team

Innovation team

Time Personality Rules

Insights

Time insights

Time zones

All your team is based on Eastern Standard Time. Great news!

You’ll be able to coordinate time faster.

Best time for collaborative work

The best time for collaboration is between 10-12 am everyday.

Time insights

Time for asynchronous work

Afternoons. 3 people in your team are morning types and with dierent energy paerns in the afternoons.

Flexible time

Everyone has moments of flexibility, and most of them are around the afternoon. Communication is key.

Rules insights

Chronic fatigue

There is a team member that needs to rest during the day to avoid headaches caused by fatigue.

Home My profile My time My teams Insights

Learning resources

Learning resources

What’s chronic fatigue?

Best tasks for peak energy

Best tasks for energy recovery

Future-ready organizations are .time diverse.

Sync helps organizations understand time and .use it. effectively

Elis Shin elis@newschool.edu

Joana Chang joana.chang@newschool.edu

Sebastian Muñoz Awad sebastian.ma@newschool.edu

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. (2022) “AmericanTime Use Survey Summary.” USDL-22-1261. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. (2023) “Job Openings and LaborTurnover Survey” USDL-23-0628. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/jolts_04042023.pdf

Clifton, J., Harper, J. Culture Shock. (2023)The Gallup Organization: Washington, D.C. (excerpt) https://www.gallup.com/workplace/401738/coordinating-hybrid-work-schedules-5-important-findings.aspx

Cole, M. S., Bruch, H., and Vogel, B. (2011, May 27). “Energy at work:Ameasurement validation and linkage to unit effectiveness.” Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33 (4), 445–467. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.759

Eteläpelto,A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., and Paloniemi, S. (2013). “What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work.” Educational Research Review, 10, 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.001

The Gallup Organization. (2022) “State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report.” Washington, D.C. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx

The Gallup Organization. (2020) “The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes.” Washington, D.C. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/321725/gallup-q12-meta-analysis-report.aspx

Kalenkoski, C.M., Hamrick, K.S., andAndrews, M. (2011). “Time poverty thresholds and rates for the US population.” Social Indicators Research, 104 (1), 129–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9732-2

Putilov,A.A., Sveshnikov, D. S., Puchkova,A. N., Dorokhov, V. B., Bakaeva, Z. B.,Yakunina, E. B., Starshinov,Y. P.,Torshin, V. I.,Alipov, N. N., Sergeeva, O. V.,Trutneva, E.A., Lapkin, M. M., Lopatskaya, Z. N., Budkevich, R. O., Budkevich, E. V., Dyakovich, M. P., Donskaya, O. G., Plusnin, J. M., Delwiche, B., … Mairesse, O. (2021). “Single-item chronotyping (sic), a method to self-assess diurnal types by using 6 simple charts.” Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110353

Sellier,A. L., andAvnet,T. (2014). “So What If the Clock Strikes? Scheduling Style, Control, and Well-Being.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107 (5), 791–808. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038051

Vogel, B., Raes,A. M., and Bruch, H. (2022, December). “Mapping and managing productive organizational energy over time:The Energy Pattern Explorer tool.” Long Range Planning, 55 (6), 102213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2022.102213

Volk, S., Pearsall, M. J., Christian, M. D., and Becker, W. E. (2017). “Chronotype Diversity inTeams:Toward aTheory ofTeam EnergeticAsynchrony.” Academy of Management Review, 42 (4), 683–702. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2015.018