Jobs and the Future of Work

5 is the perfect number of projects to juggle. Here's why

More than 80% of employees juggle multiple projects at once.

More than 80% of employees juggle multiple projects at once. Image: Unsplash/Scott Graham

Anatoli Colicev
Chair in Marketing, Strategy and Analytics, University of Liverpool
Tuuli Hakkarainen
Lecturer in Human Resource Management, University of Liverpool
Share:
Our Impact
What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Jobs and the Future of Work?
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:

Future of Work

Loading...
  • Research found that employees with more than five projects on the go might experience a lack of focus and stretched brain capacity.
  • More than 80% of employees juggle multiple projects at once, according to recent research.
  • Working on too many projects harms employees, projects and firms. It affects employee productivity and morale and can lead to burnout.

Working across several projects is the norm for most jobs these days. In fact, more than 80% of employees juggle multiple work projects at once, according to recent research.

Such arrangements are pervasive, with 59% of employees working on between two and five projects, 11% on six to ten projects, and 15% on more than ten at a time. The rationale behind allocating employees to multiple projects is often billed as increasing productivity, but it’s simply a way to save time, money and resources for firms.

So are these working practices actually beneficial for firms, not to mention employees and the projects they work on? In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we continue to debate excessive work demands, career pressures and job satisfaction (you’ve almost certainly heard about the phenomenon of “quiet quitting”, when employees do the bare minimum to stay on the payroll) this is an important issue to discuss.

Five-project limit

After observing hundreds of employees at this large multinational over several years, we found that juggling more than five simultaneous projects can be detrimental to meeting project deadlines. But working on less than five projects can prevent people from achieving maximum productivity.

When working on fewer projects, there is more chance that time will be lost in being idle. For example, if other team members do not deliver their input on time, you can switch over to work on a task for different project while you wait.

Working on multiple projects can help all kinds of workers to develop more effective work practices. For instance, engineers might deploy automated queuing processes and surgeons can develop flexible priority schemes when working with multiple patients. In other words, employees benefit from creative solutions when working on multiple projects, allowing them to get more done in less time.

So having too few projects is not good. How about too many? We found that employees with more than five projects might experience lack of focus and stretched brain capacity. For example, such employees might have difficulties being present in the moment. This is called “attention residue” and it has been shown to be pervasive in everything we do. So, next time your boss asks you to jump on another Zoom call to discuss a new project, our research shows you should think twice before accepting.

Have you read?

Ideal conditions

While having five projects might be ideal, not all employees and firms have a choice. The good news is that our research also points to three key conditions for better handling of multiple work projects.

1. Who you are

Research shows that deep specialisation in a task can allow employees to work more efficiently. Think of a logistics specialist who has a combination of relevant education and work experience in supply chains. She can utilise the same practices across all projects without needing to “reinvent the wheel”. Similarly, an engineer who knows everything about a certain type of software can more quickly grasp the requirements of each new project related to that system.

2. Which projects you work on

Similar projects might require almost identical solutions that can be repeated time and again. For example, if a writer works on three or four projects catered toward a similar audience, they can use the same templates or tools to execute certain tasks.

3. Who you work with

Seeing familiar faces across multiple projects saves time on lengthy introductions, misunderstandings and clarifications, according to our research. Colleagues that know each other can rely on shared experiences and use best practices from the past.

Seeing familiar faces across multiple projects saves time on lengthy introductions, misunderstandings and clarifications, according to our research.
Seeing familiar faces across multiple projects saves time on lengthy introductions, misunderstandings and clarifications, according to our research. Image: Unsplash/Annie Spratt

In the end, working on too many projects harms employees, projects and firms. It affects employee productivity and morale and can lead to burnout. So, rather than overburdening employees, managers should improve how they allocate their time.

This creates a win-win situation for employees and firms. Companies can still have people work across multiple projects. But to balance productivity and employee demands, they can allocate more specialised workers to simultaneous projects involving familiar faces and similar demands. And that’s how teamwork makes the dream work.

Loading...
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Share:
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

World Mental Health Day: How leaders can prioritize well-being in the workplace

Kate Whiting

October 4, 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum