In this new world of work and the emerging future of work with hybrid becoming more of the rule rather than the exception, it is critical that benefits professionals understand and appreciate the role of chronotype (biological clock) and time of day to enhance performance, health and wellbeing. This information will benefit you personally and professionally as well as your organization and your clients whether internal or external.

What's the secret sauce?

The aim here is to focus on how to acquire and maintain a performance edge at work without sacrificing your short- and long-term health and wellbeing. This is particularly important now that more workers are working remotely and as workplaces embrace hybrid work as the norm rather than as the alternative. The "secret sauce" to achieving this performance edge revolves around your chronotype or your internal scheduler. Specifically, the "magic ingredient" of the secret sauce is to synchronize your chronotype with both your work schedule and work tasks.

What's your chronotype?

Three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the clock gene which governs your circadian rhythm. Your chronotype is genetically determined. Your chronotype is not a preference nor your personality. There are three chronotypes:

• Morning (Morning Lark)
• Intermediate (Hummingbird)
• Evening (Night Owl)

Your chronotype, or specific circadian rhythms (biological clock), define your individual levels of alertness, activity, concentration, creativity, decision making, energy, ethical decision making, interpersonal savvy, problem-solving, and pre-determined sleep schedule. It dictates your body's natural tendency to fall asleep and wake up at a certain time of the day.

Are your work schedule and tasks synchronized with your chronotype?

There are three steps to acquiring and maintain the performance edge as shown below:

1. Know your chronotype.
2. Reflect on whether you, any work colleagues, or clients are suffering from circadian misalignment (working against not with your biological clock).
3. Design your work schedule and work tasks around your genetically determined chronotype.

Know your chronotype: You may have a feel for your chronotype – morning type, intermediate, or evening type. A quick way to know your chronotype is to complete the following two questions.

• Overall, how is your energy level in the morning?
  • Very low
  • Low
  • Moderate
  • High
  • Very high
• Overall, how is your energy level in the evening?
  • Very low
  • Low
  • Moderate
  • High
  • Very high

Reflect on the effects of circadian misalignment: Circadian misalignment occurs when you are working against your own chronotype. For instance, you may be an evening chronotype, but you work a 9-5 job which makes it tough to get going in the morning and tough to go to sleep early knowing you have to get up an unnatural time for your chronotype.

Pause and reflect for at least 15-30 minutes knowing that there are 1,400 minutes in each day to ask and answer the following questions:

• Is my work schedule aligned with my chronotype?
• Do I engage in work tasks based upon my energy peaks and valleys throughout the day?
• How might my performance, health and wellbeing be enhanced by aligning my work schedule and work tasks with my chronotype?

After reflecting upon these three questions, you may reach one of the three conclusions about the degree to which you are suffering from circadian misalignment.

• My work schedule and work tasks are aligned with my chronotype.
• My work schedule and work tasks are somewhat aligned with my chronotype.
• My work schedule and work tasks are not aligned with my chronotype.

Circadian misalignment is corrosive to your performance, health and wellbeing. Imagine you are continuously paddling upstream for more than 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 160 hours a month, and 2080 hours a year.

Design a chronotype-friendly work schedule/work tasks

Hopefully the case has been made that circadian misalignment disrupts high performance, health and wellbeing. In contrast, synchronizing your work schedule and work tasks enhances high performance, health and wellbeing. This synchronization of work schedules and work tasks with the chronotypes of the workforce plays out on three levels: organizational, managerial/leadership and individual.

Each one of these will be described below all with the aim of offering your practical guidance on how to start synchronizing today.

Organizational level

At this level, executive leadership ought to commit to high performance, health and wellbeing by modeling synchronization, incorporating synchronization into policies, and creating a chronotype friendly climate. Such a climate signals that workplace flexibility revolves around life commitments, family commitments, volunteer commitments, commuting considerations, and health commitments but also a commitment to synchronizing work schedules and work task with the chronotypes of your workforce.

Managerial/leadership level

A key question for managers/leaders to ask of those workers who they supervise is the following: Can I and will I trust my workers to manage their time and productivity in a way that allows them to choose the hours that synchronize with their body clock? This may not be possible for every worker all the time because there are business considerations. Such considerations may include the job description and customer preferences with regard to time. In the 1950s, Douglas McGregor categorized managers/leaders as Theory Y or Theory X. This categorization is applicable today as shown in the table below.

As you read and reflect upon Theory Y and Theory X, are you more similar to Theory Y or X? What about your immediate supervisor? What about the cultural climate of your organization?

Individual level

At this level, you may not be able to control your work schedule at all or to the degree that you wish. If you are fortunate enough to work in a supportive organization with a performance-focused manager/leader and the nature of your job enables you to synchronize your work schedule and work tasks, then get going today. On the other hand, if you are not as fortunate due to the organizational culture and/or beliefs about workers held your immediate supervisor, then try the following ways to influence your immediate supervisor.

• Demonstrate how in the past you met and/or exceeded expectations when you had greater flexibility if this were the case.
• Request a "pilot" or "trial run" for a period of time being clear to define the performance expectations up front.
• Seek allies at work where you may advocate on behalf of yourself and others.
• Cope with the reality that the organizational culture and/or your immediate supervisors are not chronotype friendly.
• Polish your resume and seek out opportunities where you can synchronize your work schedule and work tasks with your chronotype to enhance your performance, health and wellbeing.

The current world of work and the emerging Future of Work is reshaping what works looks like and how it ought to be designed. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation represent two opportunities for organizational leaders and individual workers to pause, reflect and redesign how they work and WHEN they work. Synchronize your work schedule and work tasks with you chronotype to enhance your performance, health and wellbeing.

William "Marty" Martin is director and associate professor of the Health Sector Management MBA Program at DePaul University in Chicago, as well as a highly sought-after presenter, trainer, and facilitator at organizations in the U.S. and abroad. His topics range from Managing Physician Performance to Elements of Teamwork. 

Read more: 

• America can't afford its sleep problem
• Employees' lack of sleep could be a nightmare for bosses
• 5 employee productivity challenges (and how to overcome them)