In today’s fast-paced workplace, it can feel as though constant notifications, back-to-back meetings and ever-growing to-do lists are simply part of the job. But when work is designed around distraction, overload and urgency, it can prevent people from doing their best thinking.
At the Engage Employee Summit, Sean Tolram, Head of Mindfulness at HSBC and founder of My Trained Mind, explored how organisations and individuals can build healthier, higher-performing ways of working—by understanding what the brain needs to function at its best.
His message was simple: work with the brain, not against it.
Our brains were not designed for the always-on, digitally connected working environment many people now experience. Yet modern work often requires us to manage competing demands, continuous change, social pressures and high workloads—all while switching between email, messaging platforms, calls and meetings.
Sean highlighted several common workplace conditions that can make this harder:
Constant distractions from emails, messages, calls and notifications.
Multitasking and context-switching between mentally demanding tasks.
Competitive environments that can trigger a threat response.
Social uncertainty, hierarchy and unclear communication.
A lack of autonomy over how, when and where work gets done.
Long periods of sitting and little movement.
Heavy workloads with limited time for recovery.
These factors do not just affect wellbeing. They can also affect attention, memory, decision-making, communication and the quality of work people produce.
Sean illustrated this with the “hungry judge effect”: evidence that decisions can be influenced by basic physiological factors such as hunger, dehydration and depleted energy. The lesson for the workplace is clear: when people are tired, overloaded or under pressure, their judgement and behaviour can shift—sometimes without them even noticing.
When workloads increase, multitasking can appear to be the only way to keep up. But trying to write emails while listening to a webinar, or responding to messages during a meeting, means neither task receives full attention.
As Sean explained, we may be able to carry out simple activities at the same time, but two mentally complex tasks compete for the brain’s limited attention. The impact can show up in small but consequential ways: missed information, weaker recall, more errors, poorer decisions or communication that lacks clarity and context.
Creating focused time is therefore not a luxury. It is a practical way to protect the quality of thinking, problem-solving and collaboration.
The brain is not built for sustained high performance without a break. It works best in a rhythm of focused effort followed by recovery.
Sean suggested that people may be able to sustain intense focus and complex problem-solving for roughly 90 minutes, after which performance begins to decline. Short recovery periods—even just a few minutes between video calls—can help people reset before the next demanding task.
That does not mean every working day will allow for perfectly protected focus blocks. But it does mean organisations and managers should consider whether their ways of working make recovery possible, or whether packed calendars and back-to-back meetings are quietly reducing people’s capacity.
One of the most practical actions Sean shared was to review whether your calendar supports mindful working.
Rather than treating a calendar solely as a space other people can book, it can be used intentionally to protect time for priorities, projects, focused work and recovery. At HSBC, Sean described time-blocking as one of the most impactful practices introduced to support better ways of working.
This may involve:
Blocking time for important, high-concentration work.
Building short breaks between demanding meetings.
Reserving time for planning, preparation and follow-up.
Setting realistic expectations about what can be completed in a day.
Being more deliberate about when to say yes—and when to say no.
A calendar full of meetings may look productive, but it can make it difficult to think deeply, make progress on meaningful work or simply recover enough to show up well for others.
Sean also shared a set of simple practices that can help people start and end the day with more intention.
At the start of the day, exposure to daylight and movement can help signal that it is time to become alert. Taking a moment to check in with the body, set an intention for the day and create a realistic to-do list can also provide greater focus and control.
At the end of the day, preparing for tomorrow can reduce the mental load of unfinished tasks. Writing down what needs attention next helps reassure the brain that those loose ends are captured, rather than needing to be replayed later in the evening.
Sean also encouraged people to recognise something they have done well. Humans naturally tend to focus on mistakes and risks, but taking time to acknowledge progress can shift perspective and support a more constructive mindset.
Creating a high-performance culture does not have to mean asking people to work harder or stay switched on for longer. Instead, it can mean creating the conditions for them to think clearly, recover properly and focus on the work that matters.
For leaders, this means paying attention to how meetings are scheduled, how messages are framed, how much autonomy people have and whether team norms encourage constant availability. For individuals, it starts with small choices: protecting focus, introducing movement, setting digital boundaries and making room for recovery.
The key question is one Sean left the audience with:
Does your calendar support mindful working—or is it working against you?
By making more intentional choices about how work is structured, organisations can help employees protect their energy, strengthen performance and build healthier working habits for the long term.
To register your interest for the 2027 Engage Employee Summit click here.