No doubt you’ve frequently wondered about the best time for a conference call. It isn’t exactly clear-cut. While some of us are more productive in the mornings, there are others who, fuelled by the lunchtime break, get to the bottom of their to-do lists in the afternoon. Whichever group you belong to, scheduling in conference calls is the perfect way for you to find a balance for your team and enable communication and collaboration. But to find the best time for your conference calls, you’ll want to read on.

In striking the balance, you need to find the best time for conference calls: times where all employees are at their best and most productive. Of course, it’s easier said than done – which is why we’ve collated some research and data to help. 

So here you are: the best times for a conference call throughout the day and throughout the week. 

First things first – how do we simply find the time, let alone the best time for a conference call?

Before we look at productivity levels, we should first think about finding times that are least likely to disrupt everyone’s working day. After all, the best time for a conference call can’t be at the same time as other important work is being done. Everyone works differently, and there are valid arguments to scheduling calls in the morning as well as in the afternoon. You need a solution that enables staff to plan their day while accommodating conference calls at the same time.

Generally speaking, we would advise against conference calls on a Monday, especially a Monday morning. Post-weekend, office workers are usually focused on setting their work out for the week and may engage less with calls, meetings, creative brainstorming sessions and the like. In fact, the workplace phenomenon of ‘Monday Blues’ is statistically shown to hamper productivity. It’s a day where workers settle back into their working week routine. Clearly, this isn’t the best time for a conference call. 

When are office workers most productive on an average day?

The traditional office definitely has its own rhythms, within which employees have long found their ‘sweet spot’ for getting things done. According to research, here are the most productive times of the day. 

In surveying 1,500 UK office workers who work 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, UK flexible workspace provider, Workthere, published some very interesting findings. 

• The majority of UK office workers feel most productive between 10 and 11am.

There you go – just between breakfast and lunch you will find a sweet spot of productivity. Office workers feel most productive at this time so it may be the best time for a conference call, too.  

However, that’s not all. It turns out that the morning, in general, is brimming with productivity.

• 1 in 5 (19%) of respondents said that they were most productive in the morning between 8 and 11am.

It seems that morning conference calls are the way to go! 

What about the least productive times of the day?

The same bit of research also found that just 2% of respondents claimed that they felt most productive in the later parts of the day, between 4 and 6pm.

Adding to this, we looked at some intensive research conducted by ProPlus to uncover the least productive times of the day, between Friday afternoon lulls and the general post-lunch interlude. Our to-do lists are already shrinking in fear…

• More than a third of Brits start to feel the ‘dreaded drowsy feeling’ at 2.17pm

Alas, we’ve found the time of the day where our energy levels and general engagement start to slip. This is the ‘daily slump’. There’s more to the above statistic, too. 

• Over a third of respondents said that productivity suffers because of the ‘daily slump’
• The majority of respondents said that irritability is the worst result of the daily energy slump
• Fewer than 1 in 10 believe a full tummy is to blame (despite the slump being after lunch)

What days of the week are office workers most productive?

Revisiting the data from Workthere, we found that on certain days UK office workers were generally more productive than on others. Let’s break down the numbers.

• Almost a third of workers (31%) said that they feel the same level of productivity every day.

Admittedly, this doesn’t help us too much as we seek the best time for a conference call. However, if you begin to break those numbers down like Workthere did, you will find that the three most productive days for office workers are:

• Tuesday (24%)
• Monday (16%)
• Wednesday (15%)

Could Tuesday mornings be the best time for a conference call, then? It looks like that’s your best bet. 

What can we learn about the best time for a conference call?

What can we take away from the above findings? The best time for a conference call is definitely in the morning, ideally earlier in the week (but not Monday!) as opposed to later in the week when you’re closing in on the weekend. 

It’s vitally important that you accommodate the habits and working styles of your employees. Doing so will be conducive to productive and goal-oriented conference calls. Each worker will have their preferred times of the day and if it’s your job to pencil conference calls in, you need to accommodate the team. 

Once you’ve chosen the best time for a conference call, take a look at our innovative features

Conference calls are a saving grace for those working from home. To find out how WHYPAY? could benefit your team, browse our range of conference call features here. We have a three-tiered subscription system so your team can choose whichever conference call services suit you best.

In the meantime, be sure to take a look at our blog and collection of conference call reviews. The world of cost-effective conference calls awaits.