As work becomes more complex, and distractions only continue to increase, developing a strategy to protect your time not only helps to safeguard your productivity, it also positively impacts your wellbeing.

How long does it really take to get back into the ‘zone’ after an interruption?

By the “zone,” I mean that sense of flow where you’re productive, mentally immersed, and genuinely making progress. In other words: the space where meaningful work gets done. But research from the University of California shows that after a single interruption, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to that state of flow.

Let’s do the maths. If you’re interrupted four times a day by a tech ping, a question and a couple of ‘quick’ check-ins, you’ve already lost over 90 minutes of precious time. Multiply that by a week, a month, a year… and the costs to productivity and mental clarity become staggering.

Interruptions are a known productivity killer, one HR knows all too well as they struggle to balance strategic HR with being constantly “available” to support others.

Establishing a culture where protected time routines are the norm might be one way to help mitigate increasing concerns around excessive workloads and the attention crisis.

Read HRM’s article ‘Australian workers lose 600 hours per year to workplace distractions‘.

The leadership myth of the always-open door

For decades, we’ve been sold the idea that to be a good leader, you need to have an open-door policy and be always available. There’s certainly value in this, but it shouldn’t mean you’re available 100 per cent of the time. 

As burnout surges among leaders – Gallup data shows they’re among the most disengaged and exhausted cohorts – we must ask, what are we putting at risk in an effort to be more ‘available’?

According to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast, nearly 40 per cent of business leaders report feeling so stressed they’re considering leaving their roles.

That’s not a people problem. That’s a work design problem. And it’s one HR is uniquely placed to address.

Hear more from Tanya Heaney-Voogt at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in Sydney.

The productivity strategy HR needs

Establishing protected time isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential in managing job demands. For HR practitioners who are both facilitators and role models of good work design, it’s a practice we need to both adopt and promote.

Protected time can help you:

• Improve focus and complete complex or larger tasks
• Reduce cognitive loading 
• Decrease stress levels
• Role model healthy boundary-setting; and
• Encourage positive practices across your organisation for managing job demands.

And yet, many of us hesitate. Why? Because we’ve internalised that “good” professionals are always accessible. 

But the reality is if we want to support others sustainably we need to design our own work sustainably too.

Case in point: When being available becomes unsustainable

A school principal I coached, came to me on the brink of burnout.

He prided himself on always being available for students, parents and employees, who popped into his office regularly. But that accessibility came at a cost. 

Unable to get to his work tasks during the week, Sunday became the time when he completed tasks that required his deep concentration. As the volume of those tasks increased, so did the impact on his weekend. Understandably this created tensions at home.

When I suggested he implement a ‘protected time’ routine – a few hours a week where his door stayed closed and all interruptions were removed so he could focus on deep work – he was visibly uncomfortable.

“But I need to be there for people,” he said. “It’s part of who I am. I don’t want them to think I’ve stopped caring.”

It’s a concern I hear often. An unhelpful narrative that says if you carve time out for yourself, you’re being selfish. Or not being a good leader.

“Interruptions are more than just a nuisance. They dilute our thinking, drain our time and attention, and damage our wellbeing.”

But when I reframed it, suggesting what I was recommending was a mere five per cent of his week as protected time, the remaining 95 per cent he was available for others, he paused.

“That’s only two hours,” he said. “When you put it like that, it doesn’t seem like much at all.”

Those two hours quickly became the slot where he wrote the school newsletter, a task he had been doing on his weekends. Over time he saw the benefit of protected time to his productivity, wellbeing and family time and gradually increased the frequency of his closed-door focused work.  

Three steps to implementing protected time

Whether you’re coaching a leader, guiding a team or redesigning your own routine, here are three essential steps to implement a successful protected time strategy:

1. Communicate your intentions with others

Transparency is key. Let your team (and managers/leaders) know why you’re introducing protected time. Reassure them that your goal isn’t to be less available, but to be more effective. 

Share when your protected time will occur, and for how long. Two hours per week is a great place to start.

2. Define your interruption criteria

Make it clear under what conditions you can be interrupted. Left vague, people will assume their issue is urgent enough to break your focus.

Without clear criteria, you invite confusion and frequent (avoidable) disruptions.

For example: 
1) You are waiting on something/someone urgently.
2) If someone is in urgent need of care.
3) If there’s a serious risk emerging.

3. Honour your boundaries

Protected time only works if you protect it.

This means:

• Not cancelling it “just this once” because someone wants a quick word.
• Not responding to emails or messages during your blocked time.
• Not using the time for reactive admin or low-impact tasks.

And, just as importantly, hold others accountable. If someone interrupts you outside your criteria, acknowledge appropriately and then redirect: “Let’s talk at 3pm when I’m out of focus time.”

Boundary strength is like muscle strength. You build it by using it.

Read HRM’s article on managing attention residue.

Coaching leaders through the transition

When supporting leaders to establish protected time, expect some resistance. They might say:

• “People will think I don’t care.”
• “My team needs me constantly.”
• “My boss won’t go for it.”
• “My role is just too reactive.”

That’s where your role as a trusted HR partner becomes critical. Help them reframe these beliefs:

• Being there 95 per cent of the time is still phenomenal. That five per cent they reclaim might just help them beat burnout.
• Their team will see they can solve problems for themselves, building team confidence and capability and reducing pressure on the leader.
• Role modelling boundaries and focus is good leadership.

Here’s a simple action planning template you can use to help build a protected time routine:

Download this template here.

What this means for HR

You don’t need to overhaul your entire way of working overnight, but if you’re feeling stretched, distracted or reactive more than you feel you’re being strategic, protected time could be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Interruptions are more than just a nuisance. They dilute our thinking, drain our time and attention, and damage our wellbeing. The open-door mantra, though well-intended, needs modernising.

By making protected time routine not rare, we can reclaim our focus and support a healthier, more sustainable way of working for ourselves and the people we serve.

The truth is, protecting time isn’t selfish. It’s smart. 

Tanya Heaney-Voogt is a speaker, author and consultant working across a wide range of industries, supporting organisations to build mentally healthy, high-performing workplaces and navigate the complexities of change in today’s fast-moving world of work.She is the author of Finding Equilibrium – Leading safely and effectively in the modern world of work, and two other books. 

She has been a contributing author for HRM Magazine and a guest on AHRI’s Let’s Take This Offline podcast, discussing psychosocial safety, and will be an upcoming speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition speaking on how to create Psychosocial Activators in your organisation.