Employees are productive for only 4.5 hours of the day, study finds

Along with work-from-home flexibility, employees’ productivity levels have shifted. According to the study, hybrid workers have the highest levels of productivity at five hours and six minutes, followed by office workers and finally, fully remote workers. 

The study also found that age is a major factor when it comes to productivity levels. Middle aged workers (44-59) are the most productive, whereas millennials (28-43) tend to be less productive with a difference of one hour and 12 minutes of typical productivity throughout the day. 

The average worker does 7.1 non-related work activities throughout the day. Most frequently, workers said they spent around an hour browsing the internet on non-work-related topics, communicating with friends and family, or discussing non-work topics with colleagues. Additionally, employees said they spent around 45 minutes on social media, running errands, daydreaming, smoking, preparing snacks or meals or looking for other jobs. 

With work-from-home flexibility, the lines between what are appropriate versus inappropriate ways to spend time during the workday are blurred for many employees. According to the study, over 50% of employees said they have watched TV, napped, worked on a side-hustle, gamed or ran errands during working hours. 

While many employees found these activities appropriate uses of time during working hours, over 30% of employees said the most unacceptable activities to partake in during work include online shopping, gaming, watching TV, napping, and being physically intimate. 

When it comes to justifying non-work-related tasks, a number of employees say it’s okay to work on other things as long as all of the assigned tasks have been completed, the time is made up later on, or short breaks throughout the day will help them focus better.

Despite whether taking breaks and procrastinating while at work is acceptable or not, the study found that over 50% of employees admit to having missed a time-sensitive meeting or message because they were distracted from work.