The glorification of hustle culture and overwork can leave employees feeling burned out and resistant to change. By creating a 15 per cent buffer in our lives, we can reclaim a day each week for rest, recovery and better adaptability to disruptions.

Preparing for the unexpected has become the name of the game in today’s world of work.

The last few years have seen endless curveballs thrown at HR, from the COVID-19 pandemic to this year’s slew of industrial relations changes.

The businesses that have thrived through these challenging periods are those that have treated the challenges as opportunities, says Donna McGeorge, productivity expert and author.

McGeorge, who is an upcoming speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August, has written extensively about managing the ebbs, flows and unexpected challenges of life at work by building what she calls ‘adaptive capacity’.

“This is the ability to take advantage of change and to cope when the unexpected happens,” she says. “When you have a lot of energy and you [are given] a lot of time and space to respond, you have adaptive capacity.”

What does adaptive capacity look like in practice?

People and organisations that cultivate their adaptive capacity are better able to respond positively to disruption, says McGeorge.

“It has its roots in Darwinian thinking: it isn’t the fittest that survives; it’s the one most able to adapt to change,” she says.

She refers to Australian company Stagekings as an example of adaptive capacity in a business environment. When the pandemic struck in 2020, there was next to no demand for the company’s usual services building custom stages and sets for theatre, TV and film. 

“Their whole world just collapsed overnight – everything got cancelled,” she says. 

“Their adaptive capacity came from the ability to take the space and time to look around and go, ‘What else could we do? What does the world need right now? How can we take advantage of these changing circumstances?’ Then, they became ‘IsoKing’ – they used all their equipment and resources to create really fast work-from-home furniture.”

This move was an instant success, resulting in the company manufacturing nearly 10,000 products. During the pandemic, the business increased its workforce from 12 to more than 50 people working across four states.

This is a lesson that can be applied to current and future challenges, she says.

For example, as organisations and individuals scramble to figure out their place in an AI-driven world, businesses with adaptive capacity will be taking the time to consider how they can best take advantage of AI. Equally, on an individual level, leaders can keep any fear or unease about AI at bay by giving their people the space to become comfortable with it.

A crucial element of adaptive capacity is the ability to respond to a situation rather than reacting to it, says McGeorge. Rather than rushing to accommodate change without considering the bigger picture – a reactive approach – leaders should take a step back, take stock and make a better quality decision. It might take more time in the short term, but strategic thinking in the early stages will pay dividends in the long run.

“When I do a presentation about this, I always ask [people], ‘What are the things you’re doing today that your future self will thank you for?’”

The 85 per cent rule 

According to McGeorge’s analysis in her latest book, The 1 Day Refund: Take Time Back and Spend it Wisely, the Australian workforce has become “rest-resistant”. 

The average Australian worker performs six weeks of unpaid overtime per year, equating to $92 billion in lost income each year. What’s more, a third of us aren’t getting enough sleep, and over three quarters of office workers (77 per cent) say they skip or work through their lunch break during the average work week.

“The notion that busyness, franticness and stress are indicators of hard work and productivity has been around for over 2000 years,” says McGeorge.

“We’ve become addicted to being busy. It’s not in our instinct to create space for ourselves – it’s actually quite the opposite. It’s instinctive to want to fill our space with activity.”

In the last decade, the harmful effects of ‘hustle culture’ have come to light in the mainstream. The pressure to be constantly ‘on’ is now widely understood to cause burnout, poor mental health and poor job satisfaction. But even with this knowledge, it’s hard to shake the ways of working we have held onto for so long.

“It has its roots in Darwinian thinking: it isn’t the fittest that survives; it’s the one most able to adapt to change.” – Donna McGeorge, productivity expert and bestselling author.

To assist in breaking these habits, McGeorge offers a simple framework to create more space and time for ourselves. Rather than always trying to give 100 per cent of our time and effort to work, she suggests a more sustainable target: 85 per cent.

“We should all have a 15 per cent buffer in our lives for capacity and space,” she says.

“Accounting for the fact that it’s unlikely that an economy or company will function at 100 per cent capacity, 85 per cent is considered optimal. This provides a 15 per cent buffer against setbacks like equipment malfunction or resource shortages.”

On an individual level, by ‘refunding’ ourselves with that 15 per cent of our time and energy, we can take back a whole day every week to rest, recover and reconsider. This buffer also gives us greater capacity to manage inevitable disruption, since we can use this space to determine the best response to a curveball. 

Could a shortened work week be the answer?

As well as her deep dive session on the topic of adaptive capacity at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition, McGeorge will also be moderating a panel on the topic of shorter working weeks and the best way for leaders to approach them. 

If shortened weeks become the norm, she says they could be a valuable tool to bolster adaptive capacity in their people – if the initiative is framed in the right way.

“Let’s just say I’m given one extra day a week off,” she says. “That’s technically 52 extra annual leave days, right? So I could say to my boss, ‘I’m going to work full time, and I’m going to take 52 days plus [regular annual leave] at once – nearly three months.’ 

“But [we have to say] ‘That’s not how it works. The idea is that I’m paying you to recharge your batteries, so you can come back and be your best possible self at work.”

While HR plays an important role in driving a business’s adaptability, the responsibility to have these conversations and cultivate people’s adaptive capacity generally lies with their line manager, she says. It’s therefore essential that managers are appropriately coached in helping their direct reports create the space and time to build resilience.

By empowering managers to build their people’s adaptive capacity and ensuring that they themselves are also creating space for rest and reevaluation, HR can enable individuals and teams to navigate disruption and seize opportunities that arise from changing circumstances.

Donna McGeorge will be talking more about adaptive capacity at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Secure your ticket today!