Workdays can now be more than just good or bad.

The kind of day you had at work can now be categorized into one of five types of days: typical, ideal, crisis, disengaged and toxic, according to new research.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University looked at 11,245 workday surveys taken over two to nine months by 221 office workers, discovering that workers tend to cycle through five different kinds of days.

The VCU researchers examined factors affecting work as a whole rather than just the individual employee, using a rare methodology to study factors of the work environment such as autonomy, supervisor encouragement and organizational impediments.

Inspired by his own issues he experienced in a corporate environment, co-author and associate professor of management and entrepreneurship Christopher Reina remembered his days used to feel a lot worse when there were unexpected to-dos and problems arising.

“It kind of throws you off your game, and it’s really demotivating,” he said. “Changing demands with time pressures can really reduce your ability to meet a task.”

The researchers wanted to know what makes workdays go well or not well. So, they used a trusted dataset that a Harvard Business School professor gathered from 1996 to 1998 that has been used in multiple studies over a long period of time. One reason for use of datasets like this is to remove any ambiguity over outside complicating factors — like a global pandemic.

They found that employees experience the following five types of days:

Typical days make up 34% of workdays. These days tend to be forgettable — creativity is at an average level and you are just motivated enough to be mildly engaged with your work, maybe partaking in a catch-up day. 

“Many people let themselves fall into typical days, which can be a hindrance to both creativity and more ideal days,” lead author Alexander MacKay, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship, said.

Most people are probably wondering what an “ideal” day even looks like, but they make up 29% of your days. These days are your productive days, filled with freedom, challenging work and support from management and the organization. An ideal day will keep you going with healthy pressures — like deadlines — but won’t slow you down with hurdles.

We’ve all been there. During a crisis day, there are some good things — like engaging tasks — but there are even more problems present. In 19% of workdays, something explodes or erupts in disaster. You may think you’re doing productive work, but chances are you’re not.

If you’re feeling checked out at work, you’re experiencing a disengaged day — which makes up 10% of days. There are neither pressures nor motivators present, and you just feel bored and unmotivated.

“It translates into a lack of energy,” Reina said.

Toxic days make up 8% of employees’ days. A challenge or conflict combined with poor work environments can lead to one of these very bad days. Emotional conflict in particular will do more damage to your day than a task-related conflict. 

The research also found that the types of days we experience tend to appear consecutively, so your one disengaged day can turn into three, and one disengaged day across multiple employees in different offices can turn into a bad work situation. Researchers noted that disengaged employees have trouble innovating, so large amounts of disengaged workers lead to low morale, low-quality work and low productivity.

“There’s a pretty robust playbook on what it takes for a company to be innovative, but we don’t have a good handle on how to drive creativity amongst individuals from an organizational standpoint,” said Mayoor Mohan, an associate professor of marketing at VCU’s School of Business and one of three co-authors. “The people management aspect of it has been left untouched.” 

Some “worrying” effects of those consecutive disengaged and toxic days are leading to people quitting their jobs.

“People are willing to jump ship easily, which tells you that they’re not very engaged or perhaps that there’s too much toxicity at work,” Baer said. 

One of the most surprising findings of the study was that the factors that led to a good or bad day were out of the employees’ control. So, if you have a toxic day, you can blame it on someone else.

“Leaders play a really important role in engineering the work environment and how people perceive it day to day,” MacKay said.

MacKay noted that having all ideal and typical days isn’t necessarily the goal — crisis days are important, too. What matters is how these days are handled and how culture is adjusted to boost morale. 

“You kind of need to debate and discuss and butt heads to move ideas forward,” MacKay acknowledged. 

It’s all about balance and being “mindful,” Reina said. Being aware of what kind of day you’re having allows you to make the changes necessary to get on the right track.

“There’s nothing to suggest that you’re going to have weeks of toxic days—there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Mohan said. “Or, if you’re riding a wave, at some point that wave is going to come crashing down.”