Many of us try to multi-task at work because it’s the ‘done thing’. But is it even possible to do so, and does the attempt come at a cost, particularly for women? Sarah Lang is tasked with looking into multitasking.
At Capsule, we’ve written a lot of stories about women at work. We’ve noticed that many of these topics are very much intertwined: pushing back against hustle culture, why perpetual striving might not make us happier, working-mum guilt, letting go of perfectionism, battling burnout, juggling work with the mental load and SO many more.
Then we got to wondering about what working women really want. As in, what do we actually want – rather than what are we ‘meant’ to want. Also, are there things that we don’t yet know we want, but might realise we want if we find out more? Are there more things we could ask our employers for? And what changes might we want to see in the workplace?
Welcome to our series What Working Women REALLY Want. If you have story ideas, or are keen to be interviewed about a topic, please email us at [email protected]!
I’m just plain bad at multitasking. Well, I can listen to a podcast while walking or cooking (okay fine, sometimes I burn the stir-fry). But when I work, I can only focus on one task at a time, particularly when it requires sustained concentration.
One thing I learned during the second Lockdown is that I cannot work and parent at the same time. If I try to do both, I’m bad at both. Sure, I can write some emails while parenting, but I can’t research the gender pay gap while my son wanders over again to tell me he’s bored.
This might sound bad, but hopefully somewhat relatable. For a few days during that Lockdown, I asked my son, then six, that if he needed me, could he please wave at me, then wait for me to finish my train of thought (obv if it was urgent he could come straight over). That was when I first jotted down ‘can humans actually multi-task well?’ on a story-ideas list buried deep in my KeepNotes app. And here we are!
For this story, I’ll focus on multitasking at work, rather than looking at the work/home/mental-load juggle (which we’ve covered before and definitely will again).
Multitasking is good, right?
You probably think of multitasking as simultaneously performing two or more tasks that require mental effort. Some people take pride in their multitasking abilities – and if you can multi-task well, that’s great! Employers value that! How often have you seen a job ad that says ‘must be a good multi-tasker’? Plus we all want to be able to turn our hand to whatever, whenever, right? And so many of us try to multi-task at work because it’s the ‘done thing’.
‘Multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%, especially as tasks become more complex’
But what if we question the underlying assumption that multitasking is good? What if it’s actually the opposite? What if, as humans we’re meant to be mono-taskers, not multi-taskers?
A research paper called ‘Multicosts of Multitasking’ says “the scientific study of multitasking over the past few decades has revealed important principles about the operations, and processing limitations, of our minds and brains. One critical finding to emerge is that we inflate our perceived ability to multitask: there is little correlation with our actual ability.”
“In fact, multitasking is almost always a misnomer, as the human mind and brain lack the architecture [of mental functioning] to perform two or more tasks simultaneously… The human brain has evolved to single task.”
You could argue that what we’re doing isn’t actually multitasking, but we just call it that. You could argue that what we’re actually doing, by trying to do two things at once, is doing two things less well (than if we did one at a time). You could also argue that we think we’re multi-tasking better than we actually are.
Because, while multi-tasking may seem more efficient, it can actually negatively affect the quality and quantity of your work. As a Psychology Today article called ‘The True Cost of Multitasking’ states, research shows that multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%, especially as tasks become more complex. That’s a really big percentage – and one that crops up in other relevant research.
Multitasking vs Task-Switching
I’ve long thought that there’s a difference between multitasking and ‘task-switching’. I’m bad at multi-tasking, but I’m good at task-switching! Someone told me that once! As in, I can switch between work tasks, but give full concentration to each task at any one time.
For instance, I’m concentrating on writing this story now, but in half an hour I’ll do some prep for an interview, then switch back to keep working on this story. I can do both these things well because I’m not doing them at the same time. Right?
Well, it turns out that task-switching IS multi-tasking. As the Psychology Today article says, “the term multi-tasking is actually a misnomer. People can’t actually do more than one task at a time. Instead we switch tasks. So the term that is used in the research is ‘task-switching’.”
Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking, writes that “when most people say they are ‘multitasking,’ they are most often referring to switchtasking. Switchtasking = attempting to do multiple attention-requiring tasks at the same time. Each switch in attention incurs switching cost, which includes a loss of time, decrease in performance, and an increase in stress levels.” This is often referred to as a ‘switch cost’. As Dave writes, “no matter how they [people] do it, switching rapidly between two things is just not very efficient or effective”.
Personally, I don’t switch between two things rapidly. I spend at least an hour, and usually two, on one task, with a short break. So (note to my editors), I’m productive, guys, truly!
Dave also writes that “multitasking has become something of a heroic word in our vocabulary. Many executives pride themselves on their ability to ‘multitask’.” And non-execs, too. But, he says, “multitasking is a myth. It just plain doesn’t exist”. As in, as humans, we can’t simultaneously perform two or more things that require mental effort.
The Cost Of Multitasking
As humans, we’re just not wired to multi-task. So the attempt to do so can leave us feeling frazzled, frenetic, and fatigued. It can affect our ability to focus our attention even when we’re not trying tomulti-task. It can affect our speed, our precision, our memories, and our ability to hold information top of mind, according to a New York Times article on how to stop multitasking and regain focus.
As it states, “other studies have found that multi-tasking can set our heart racing, raise our blood pressure, trigger anxiety, dampen our mood and negatively impact our perception of the work at hand”.
And if we see multitasking as the ideal modus operandi, that puts pressure on us, particularly as women. Maybe we’re trying to take the minutes of a meeting at the same time as trying to fully engage in the meeting. Or maybe we’re en route to pick up the kids while taking a work call on speakerphone.
A friend tells me that multi-tasking is “a furphy [a rumour or an unofficial story that might be true or false] invented so men can sit around watching women try to manage 40 different things. I too have read the science that says [multitasking] is not efficient so I don’t even try now. But I often hear men – and women! – say how good women are at multitasking.” And so if we find it hard to multi-task, we may just think we need to try harder. No wonder we get rundown and burned out.
How To Avoid Trying To Multi-Task
- First, notice and jot down when and how you mono-task and multi-task. Afterwards, look back at when you were most productive.
- Practise resisting the urge to multi-task. If necessary, set yourself a little reward (e.g. a 15-minute massage, or a coffee and a pastry).
- If you have to manage multiple projects or strands of work, divide that by type (e.g, sending emails, meeting prep, focused research), and allocate a certain chunk of time to each.
- If you share a calendar with colleagues, block out your calendar for a chunk of ‘deep work’ time.
- If a task requires heavy-duty mental effort, but you’re in an open-plan office, perhaps put on noise-cancelling headphones, go to a meeting room, or prop up a little ‘Come Back In Half An Hour’ sign on your desk.
- Talk to colleagues, bosses, friends and acquaintances about why and how multitasking isn’t a good thing (maybe drop that 40% loss of productivity stat). Because the less we try to multi-task, the more likely we are to be more productive and less frazzled. And that’s good for everyone!
