Time Blocking, Goal Setting, and Work Performance

Abstract

We experimentally examine how time blocking (dividing a fixed work period into shorter intervals) and non-binding goals influence worker performance. Measuring four outcomes, task performance, effort, accuracy, and mistake rate, we find that time blocking primarily operates through a speed accuracy trade off. While it substantially increases the number of tables attempted within a given period it simultaneously reduces accuracy, resulting in only a modest net gain in output. Goal setting, meanwhile, has no significant effect overall. The effects are heterogeneous and depend strongly on worker ability. For high-ability workers, goal setting significantly improves performance. Combining time blocking with goal setting yields the largest performance gains, indicating that the two techniques complement each other for this group. For low-ability workers, neither technique, individually or combined, produces significant improvements: although time blocking raises effort, the associated decline in accuracy offsets any potential benefit. Our findings highlight worker ability as a key moderator of non-monetary motivational interventions and caution against applying multiple techniques simultaneously without accounting for workforce heterogeneity.