ActivTrak Productivity Lab: Employees Are More Productive, Working Shorter Days With Increased Efficiency

State of the Workplace report reveals remote-only workers have the highest daily productivity vs. other worker types, while 70% of all employees maintain healthy work patterns

AUSTIN, Texas, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The ActivTrak Productivity Lab today released its 2025 State of the Workplace: Workforce Trends & Productivity Benchmarks, a study of digital workplace behaviors revealing that the average workday is 36 mins (7%) shorter but 2% more productive, with employees using their time more efficiently. While start times remain steady around 8 a.m., the average workday now ends at 4:39 p.m. — a notable shift from 5:21 p.m. two years ago.

Correspondingly, 70% of employees maintain healthy work patterns — the highest level in three years. The workplace also saw dramatic growth in AI tool adoption, with 58% of employees using AI tools, up 107%. Surprisingly, AI users show consistently longer workdays (+8 mins), along with higher collaboration (+17 mins) and lower focus time (-27 mins) compared to non-AI users — possibly reflecting a shift in work patterns as employees juggle increased collaboration with more frequent task-switching across tools and applications.

The State of the Workplace report provides a deep-dive examination of workplace behaviors spanning three years of anonymized customer data including 218,900 employees across 777 companies — representing one of the most comprehensive and objective studies of productivity behaviors to-date. The study reflects actual user activity behavior recorded between January 1, 2022 and December 18, 2024.

The report explores four key dynamics shaping today's workplace — productivity, engagement, work location and AI adoption — to provide insights and help organizations better plan for the future.

Key Findings

Productivity

• Employees are more efficient and productive: The average workday is 36 mins (7%) shorter (averaging 8 hrs 44 mins a day), but 2% more productive (+6 mins to 6 hrs 17 mins).
• The average productive session increased from 20 to 24 mins, a 20% improvement.
• Collaboration and multitasking chip away at focus: Focus efficiency decreased to 62% while focus time dropped 8%.

Work Location

• Remote is common: The majority of employees (53%) spend more than 60% of the year working in a remote environment.
• Remote yields better productivity: Remote-only workers have the highest productivity (+29 mins or more) vs. other worker types.
• Office-only workers have the highest percentage of healthy workdays (76%, >6% higher).

AI Adoption & Impact

• AI adoption sees upward trend: 58% of employees now use AI tools – a 107% increase.
• The average daily AI tool usage increased 48%, with employees spending nearly 10 mins per day using a variety of AI tools. ChatGPT is the most common at 27%, more than twice as popular as the next most-used tool.
• AI usage doesn't lead to shorter work days: AI users show consistently longer workdays (+8 mins) and lower focus time (-27 mins).
• AI tool users also show more collaboration (+17 mins) and increased multitasking (+8 mins).

Engagement

• Healthier organizations are on the rise: 70% of employees maintain healthy work patterns — the highest level in three years.
• Weekend work continues: 5% of employees work on weekends, up 9% since 2023, with patterns varying by business size.

"The latest State of the Workplace report reveals healthier work habits on the rise driven by clearer expectations around remote work, core working hours and balanced workloads," said Chief Customer Officer and Head of Productivity Lab, Gabriela Mauch. "From assessing AI's true impact to understanding how RTO mandates affect productivity, this year's report offers key insights into how work is evolving — and where it's heading next."

To learn more about the ActivTrak Productivity Lab and how organizations can better plan for the future of work:

• Read the 2025 State of the Workplace report
• Visit the Productivity Lab
• Establish your productivity baseline

About the ActivTrak Productivity Lab
The Productivity Lab is a center for research and expertise on the future of work. Through reports, benchmarks, assessments and best practices, we provide an in-depth understanding of workforce activity data across people, processes and technologies. This work is delivered through consulting and advisory services that help leaders across industries identify trends, improve performance and validate workforce investments – ensuring workforce productivity is sustainable and optimized for success. Productivity Lab findings have informed the work of leading industry analysts, media and research organizations. To learn more visit: https://www.activtrak.com/productivity-lab.

SOURCE ActivTrak