Breaks and productivity: An exploratory analysis

The Fair Labor Standards Act suggests that short rest periods of 5-20 min may improve employee productivity, but there is limited experimental research on the topic. The current study compared productivity when breaks were not required (i.e., control session) compared with when breaks were programmed by the experimenter (i.e., experimental session). Sixteen undergraduate students completed two 2-hr sessions of a simulated check-processing task. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to receive the experimental session (5-min breaks every 20 min) first with the control session second, and the other half received the control first and the experimental session second. The results showed that 75% of participants completed more checks during the experimental session than during the control session and the difference was statistically significant. Most participants took more unprogrammed break time during control sessions compared with experimental sessions. Implications for future research and the value of work breaks are discussed.