What Is Context Switching at Work and Why Does It Reduce Efficiency?

Yesterday I opened a spreadsheet at 9:05. By 9:12 I’d answered two chat messages, skimmed an email from finance, and started reading about a pension thing I don’t even need to deal with yet. The spreadsheet had one cell filled in.

I wasn’t being lazy. I was busy the whole time. That’s the weird part.

It made me look at my own work habits more closely, so I’m thinking it through.

Okay, what is it exactly?

Context switching is when you drop one thing and pick up another, and your brain has to reload everything about the new thing from scratch. What it is, where you left off, and what comes next.

Sounds small. A ping, a glance, back again. But it isn’t free.

Psychologists have called it task switching for decades, which is a more boring name. The basic finding is old: every time you flip, you lose a little time and a little accuracy.

You’ll see a figure from Gloria Mark’s research at UC Irvine, saying it can take over twenty minutes to properly get back into something after an interruption. I wouldn’t treat that as a law. It depends on you and on the job. But it matches how it feels.

Related: What Happens to Your Brain When You Switch Between Tasks

The bit that sticks to your brain

There’s a term for this: attention residue. Sophie Leroy came up with it, I think. The idea is that when you move on to something new, part of your mind stays behind on the old thing.

So you’re in the budget meeting but still half thinking about the email you didn’t finish. Then you’re back on the email, half thinking about the meeting.

Nobody’s fully anywhere. That’s how most of my Tuesdays go, anyway.

Multitasking isn’t really a thing

Everyone puts “great at multitasking” on a CV. I have. But multitasking at work is mostly a polite name for flipping very fast between things.

Your brain can’t do two thinking jobs at once. Walking and chatting, sure. Writing a report while listening to a call, no.

Funny thing, I’ve read that the people who say they’re best at it often test worse. Can’t remember where, so take that with a pinch of salt.

Related: Why Multitasking Makes You Less Productive

Where it all comes from

Chat apps. Email. Phones. “Got a sec?” Meetings dotted around so there’s never a clear two-hour gap. Open-plan offices where a conversation three desks away yanks you straight out.

Some of that is just how offices run. And some of it is our own work habits, honestly.

I check my inbox when a task gets hard. Nothing’s there. It’s just easier than the hard thing.

Working from home doesn’t fix it either. Fewer people tapping your shoulder, but more tabs. Many, many more tabs.

What it does to a day

You get slower, obviously. You also make dumb mistakes, like sending something to the wrong person or missing a number you’d normally catch.

Work efficiency drops, and you often don’t notice, because you feel busy. Busy feels like progress. It isn’t always.

You get more tired too. Reloading your brain over and over wears you out, so by 4 pm there’s nothing left even though you “did” loads.

Add that up across a team, and workplace productivity takes a quiet hit that nobody can point at. Nobody writes “lost forty minutes to pings” on a timesheet.

On a personal level, your work productivity probably ends up a lot lower than your calendar suggests. Mine is, anyway.

And there’s the stress. That constant low hum of being behind.

How I know it’s happening to me

I reread the same paragraph. I open a tab and forget why. I finish the day with ten half-done things, and nothing actually finished.

Also, I get a bit snappy when someone interrupts me, which is unfair, because the interruption is usually only a tiny question.

If that sounds like you, you’re not broken. It’s just the setup most of us work in.

Not all of it is bad, though

Some jobs are built around switching. Nurses, customer support, managers, teachers, and anyone with a toddler at home. If you’re on a help desk, being interrupted is the job.

And quick switches between related things cost much less than jumping between totally different ones. Writing and then editing the same document isn’t like writing and then doing your expenses.

So I’d say don’t try to ban it. Just notice what it’s costing you.

Although I do want to ban it some days. So, ignore that.

Stuff that’s helped me (sort of)

Turn off notifications. Not all of them, just the red badges and pop-ups. Check messages at set times, maybe on the hour, rather than whenever they land.

Do the hard thing first, for a proper chunk. Even 45 minutes. Phone in a drawer or another room.

Before you switch, write one line about where you stopped. “Next: check totals in column F.” It makes coming back a lot less painful.

Group similar jobs together. All the emails at once, all the calls at once. Dull, but it works.

Basic time management at work is mostly protecting a couple of long blocks and letting the small stuff fill the cracks. My calendar is rubbish at this. Meetings multiply when I’m not looking.

If you can, tell people. “I’m heads down until 11, shout if it’s on fire.” Most colleagues are fine with it, more than you’d expect.

Focus at work is partly a team thing, really, and not just personal discipline. If everyone expects an instant reply, one person turning off Slack just looks rude.

Small changes to work habits count more than a big overhaul that lasts three days.

Habits are slow to change

Most of our work habits formed around being reachable, not around thinking. Replying fast gets noticed and praised. Deep thinking doesn’t show up anywhere.

So changing work habits is awkward. You’ll slip. I slipped about four times while writing this, and one of those was to look at football scores.

Good work habits tend to be boring. One thing at a time, set check-in times, and leave a note on where you stopped. Productive work habits aren’t clever either. They’re just repeated until they stop feeling like effort.

Managers could help here too, by not scheduling a meeting at 10:30 and another at 11:15 and then wondering why nothing gets made.

Related: Boosting Focus Naturally: Habits, Nutrition & Brain-Healthy Routines

So, what now

I don’t think anyone gets rid of this completely. I’m aiming for less.

Try one morning with chat closed and your phone out of reach. See how your work habits feel by lunch. Then probably forget about it by Thursday, as I will.

But try it once.

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