ActivTrak Productivity Lab: New Benchmark Report Provides First Measurable Look at Impact of Work Location on Productivity

Remote-first Employees Are the Most Overutilized While Office-First Have the Most Balance

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The ActivTrak Productivity Lab today released its Productivity Benchmarks Report, a study of digital workplace behaviors across industry sectors and locations revealing that remote-only employees spend 31% of their time overutilized¹ — the highest figure across working models.

The Productivity Lab examined digital workplace behaviors across financial services, healthcare, insurance and professional services, along with office-first, hybrid, remote-first, and remote-only working models. ActivTrak’s Productivity Lab Benchmarks report is based on analysis of aggregated data for the period Jan 1-June 30, 2024, spanning 958 companies and 135,098 employees.

The Lab defines employee location as:

• Remote-only — employees spend all their time remote
• Remote-first — employees spend more than 60% of their time remote
• Office-first — employees spend more than 60% of their time in the office
• Office-only — employees spend all their time in the office
• Hybrid — companies with a balanced mix of in-office and remote workdays

Benchmark data for industry sectors was also revealing, with healthcare employees logging 36 more minutes of productive time per day than their cross-industry peers, and more than one-third at risk of attrition due to burnout or disengagement.

Key Findings:

Working Models & Productivity:

• Office-first employees have the most balanced utilization,² with 68% of their time spent in a healthy state. Office-first organizations also record 16 mins less digital activity than other working models — likely due to in-person meetings and collaboration.
• Remote-only employees spend 31% of their time overutilized, the highest across working models. These employees are also the most focused, totaling 4 hrs 24 mins per day.
• Break time is comparable for most employees (104-120 mins/day), with the exception of Hybrid employees, who log 90 mins of break time per day.
• More than half the companies studied (55%) employ a remote-first approach, 25% are hybrid, while just 2% work exclusively remotely. 98% of companies studied had some level of in-office presence.

Industry Benchmarks:

• Financial Services industry employees record +30 minutes of productive time per day than their cross-industry peers and have +9% healthy utilization.
• Healthcare industry employees log +36 minutes of productive time per day than their cross-industry peers, but more than 1/3 risk attrition (under + overutilized) due to burnout or disengagement.
• Insurance industry metrics are higher than cross-industry metrics in all areas except collaboration time and underutilization,³ with employees spending -18 minutes per day in collaborative applications and 41% fewer being underutilized.
• Professional Services: Underutilization is 50% lower than both the cross-industry and Healthcare industry medians.

“Our latest study reveals that workplace model and location — whether office, remote or hybrid – really does impact how we work, focus and collaborate,” said Chief Customer Officer and Head of Productivity Lab Gabriela Mauch. “As organizations contemplate flexible workforce policies, a return to the office or other changes in organizational design, it’s critical for leaders to first understand baseline productivity data and the potential impact of location on employee engagement and performance.”

To learn more about Productivity Lab research, best practices and how ActivTrak’s workforce analytics platform can help organizations understand how productivity impacts location, visit:

• Research: 1H 2024 Productivity Benchmarks Report
• Research: 2024 State of the Workplace Report
• Blog: Productivity Benchmarks Report 1H 2024: Cross-Industry/Industry-Specific & Location Insights

About the ActivTrak Productivity Lab

The Productivity Lab is a center for research and expertise on the future of work. We offer reports, benchmarks, assessments and best practices that provide deep insights into workforce activity data across people, processes and technologies. Our consulting and advisory services help leaders identify trends, improve performance and validate workforce investments, ensuring productivity is both sustainable and optimized for success. Productivity Lab findings have informed the work of top industry analysts, media and research organizations. To learn more visit: https://www.activtrak.com/productivity-lab/.

¹ When an employee is more than X% over their daily productive hours goal (percentage goal set by employer).
² A measure of employee engagement and well-being based on average productive hours/day relative to the goal set for their team.
³ When an employee is more than X% under their daily productive hours goal (percentage goal set by employer).

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SOURCE ActivTrak