This guide helps you compare your team's productivity, focus and collaboration metrics against data from our customer base. Use these benchmarks to set realistic goals and understand how your organization measures up.
We analyzed data from approximately 135,000 ActivTrak users and established benchmarks for the median, upper quartile (75th percentile) and lower quartile (25th percentile) for three key metrics: Productive Time, Collaboration Time and Focus Time.
Note: These metrics capture only time spent on digital activities in business-related applications and sites.
Understanding the metrics
Productive Time: The average amount of time a user is engaged in Productive-classified applications or sites. This includes both Active and Passive time.
Collaboration Time: The average amount of time a user spends in applications classified as "Chat & Messaging" or "Meeting Software".
Focus Time: Working time when an employee is engaged in a single task without multitasking (interruptions or attention shifts) and collaboration activities.
Productive Hrs/Day benchmark
|
Lower Quartile
(25th percentile) |
Median
(50th percentile) |
Upper Quartile
(75th percentile) |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0 hours/day | 6.4 hours/day | 7.6 hours/day |
Focused Hrs/Day benchmark
|
Lower Quartile
(25th percentile) |
Median
(50th percentile) |
Upper Quartile
(75th percentile) |
|---|---|---|
| 2.8 hours/day | 4.1 hours/day | 5.4 hours/day |
Collaboration Hrs/Day benchmark
|
Lower Quartile
(25th percentile) |
Median
(50th percentile) |
Upper Quartile
(75th percentile) |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2 hours/day | 0.4 hours/day | 1.0 hours/day |
Methodology
The ActivTrak Data Science team collected data on Productive, Collaboration, and Focus Time from 135,000 ActivTrak users across all industries and teams for the period from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024. Each metric was calculated per user per calendar week.
To calculate the per-user, per-day averages, the metrics were divided by the number of days a user worked in a given week or by 5 if a user worked more than 5 days:
- 1-5 days with activity: divide by the number of days worked
- 6-7 days with activity: divide by 5 to avoid diluting the average
Finally, the extremes were clipped at both ends of the distribution to arrive at the benchmarks shared above.
Tips from the Productivity Lab
Understanding your unique environment
Each organization is unique in its productivity, specifically its productivity inputs (which include these metrics). While businesses may produce the same output, the methods used to achieve it vary.
Evaluate your productivity metrics against these benchmarks. Your numbers may fall below or above the provided averages due to a variety of factors, such as the efficiency of process flows, the degree of non-digital work, variability in labor structures, or recent growth or downsizing efforts.
Helpful questions to consider across the entire organization and for each team:
Productivity
- Is my organization/team currently short-staffed or over-staffed?
- Does my organization/team complete its work outside its digital computer device?
Focus
- Do the work demands of my organization/team require multitasking?
- Does my organization/team require ample time for problem-solving, creativity, and deep work?
Collaboration
- To what extent are meetings held in person or remotely across my organization/team?
- What emphasis does my organization/team put on individual work versus collaboration?
The Productivity Lab recommends evaluating these external benchmarks alongside your business’s internal historical benchmarks, including both the Team’s Top Quartile Average and the Team’s Average. By evaluating both external and internal benchmarks, leaders are best positioned to identify goals that realistically unlock the productivity potential that exists within their environment.