ProHance report shows rise in global productivity hours

ProHance has unveiled the Global Productivity Benchmarking Report, indicating a steady increase in average hours worked during 2024.

The report covers data from 2023 through Q1 to Q3 of 2024, using information from over 197,000 users within 65 organisations worldwide. These span various sectors, including healthcare, financial services, IT services, business process and knowledge process outsourcing, and global capability centres.

Research in the report revealed that the average hours worked rose from 9 hours 12 minutes in the first quarter of 2023 to 9 hours 30 minutes by the third quarter of 2024. Correspondingly, productive hours increased from an average of 7 hours to 7 hours and 30 minutes during the same period.

Time spent by employees away from their workstations was relatively consistent, averaging 1 hour and 42 minutes in both Q1 2023 and Q3 2024. Idle time averaged 30 minutes in both quarters as well. "The increase in productivity is encouraging to see across a broad range of sectors," said Arvind Sagar, Senior Analyst at ProHance. "We can see there is still some room for improvement, however, when it comes to reducing time spent away from workstations."

The report also noted differences based on organisational size. Large organisations, defined as having more than 5,000 employees, reported the highest average productivity hours at 7 hours 36 minutes in Q3 2024. Medium-sized organisations, with employee numbers between 1,000 and 5,000, logged 7 hours and 18 minutes of productive time. Small organisations, with fewer than 1,000 employees, averaged 7 productive hours.

A sectoral analysis showed healthcare leading with an average of 7 hours 48 minutes of productive time. This was followed by financial services at 7 hours 24 minutes and global capability centres at 7 hours 18 minutes.

In terms of average logged work hours, healthcare and financial services both recorded 9 hours 42 minutes, with global capability centres close behind at 9 hours 36 minutes. "These results are interesting as they show a clear link between the average number of productive and the total hours worked," Sagar remarked. "The key to achieving improved productivity is focusing on the reasons for the occurrence of idle time during those hours. This is particularly clear in the financial services sector."

The application of these insights seems to be of strategic importance as businesses continue to adjust to hybrid and dynamic work models. "Armed with this data, leaders can drive meaningful, analytics-based transformations to improve workforce efficiency and achieve sustainable growth," Sagar commented.

ProHance maintains its resolve to enhance workforce productivity by providing organisations with critical intelligence to build effective operational frameworks.