17 Productivity Metrics Examples for Working Effectively
“Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.” – Robin Sharma. This quote is a good reminder that measuring workplace productivity is key to understanding whether people are genuinely productive or just spinning their wheels.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, worker productivity in the U.S. fell by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2025, the first decline since 2022. This shows that productivity is a consistent challenge for businesses and a major focus for staying competitive.
But measuring productivity isn’t always straightforward. What it means to be productive depends on the job, organization, and industry. Let’s look at some productivity metrics to help you get started.
If you’re looking for a broader overview of metrics that support performance, engagement, and retention, download our free 51 HR Metrics Cheat Sheet. It’s a practical reference for HR professionals who want to track the right data and make informed decisions.
Contents
What are productivity metrics?
Productivity metrics examples
– Organization-wide productivity metrics
– General productivity metrics
– Customer service productivity metrics
– Sales productivity metrics
– Software development productivity metrics
– Remote work productivity metrics
What are productivity metrics?
Productivity metrics measure how much value employees generate for the organization. They help assess whether people’s efforts align with company goals, highlight areas for improvement, and offer insights into boosting efficiency.
These metrics can be quantitative (e.g., output per hour) or qualitative (e.g., self-rated productivity). A common way to track them is through key performance indicators (KPIs).
Here is a basic productivity formula:
Productivity = Total output / Total input
This is a simplified view that won’t apply to all roles, but it’s a good starting point.
The goal is to improve efficiency without setting unrealistic expectations. Poorly chosen metrics can demotivate employees and backfire. The right mix, on the other hand, helps teams work smarter while maintaining quality.
Productivity metrics examples
Let’s look at various ways to calculate productivity in different sectors. As it is impossible to have standard productivity metrics for every job, organization, and industry, we have divided the productivity metrics examples into the following categories:
- Organization-wide productivity metrics
- General productivity metrics
- Customer service productivity metrics
- Sales productivity metrics
- Software development productivity metrics
- Remote work productivity metrics.
Organization-wide productivity metrics
1. Revenue per employee (RPE)
Revenue per employee is a ratio that estimates a company’s total revenue divided by its number of employees. It reflects how effectively a company generates revenue with its current workforce.
Ideally, a company strives towards a high RPE ratio because this indicates greater productivity, which usually means more profit. An increase in revenue also allows an employer to pay employees better.
The formula for revenue per employee is as follows:
2. Employee utilization
Employee utilization measures the percentage of time employees spend on billable work. It’s commonly used in professional services firms, such as accounting, law, or consulting, where revenue is tied to client hours.
Utilization rates vary by role, since not all work is billable. Time spent on emails, meetings, or admin tasks won’t count toward the utilization rate, but it’s still essential.
Tracking this metric helps determine whether staff are over- or underutilized and can guide workforce planning.
The formula for employee utilization is:
Utilization Rate = Billable hours / Eligible working hours
3. Total cost of workforce (TCOW)
As the name indicates, the total cost of workforce (TCOW) measures the total amount of money a company spends on its workforce. This includes salaries, onboarding, recruiting, training, HR operational expenses, and employee development.
Since labor is often the largest business expense, monitoring TCOW is essential for understanding your productivity relative to spending.
Having an accurate understanding of your TCOW helps answer questions such as:
- How is TCOW evolving over time compared to revenue and total expenses?
- What are the components of our TCOW, and how can we optimize them?
To calculate TCOW, add all your variables (e.g., HR expenses, training, salaries, etc.) and make sure also to include all expenditures outside of your fixed costs, such as freelancers and contingent workers, especially if they make up a big part of your workforce.
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General productivity metrics
4. Self-rated productivity
Self-rated productivity invites employees to assess their own performance. This can be tracked on individual scorecards or through regular check-ins.
Although rating one’s own productivity can seem an ambiguous task, it becomes clearer by asking the right questions, such as:
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that you will meet your goals this month?
- How many hours of focused work did you manage to put in this week?
- How many interruptions did you encounter?
Based on the outcome, the manager can coach employees to improve productivity over time. Team members can share their productivity scorecards. Then, the manager and coworkers can make suggestions for increasing productivity, as many team members may be experiencing similar issues.
5. Planned-to-done ratio
The planned-to-done ratio measures how much work is assigned to an employee and how much of it gets done. It looks at dividing the number of tasks assigned and comparing it to what has been completed, presented as a percentage:
Planned-to-done ratio = #Number of tasks completed / Number of tasks assigned/planned
This is a good measure of employee productivity, as you can compare the percentage from employee to employee.
Let’s say that two employees receive the same number of tasks. One has a planned-to-done ratio of 30%, and the other has it at 95%, which gives you something to look into. This metric is also useful to track over time to see which initiatives have increased or decreased productivity.
In addition, the planned-to-done ratio highlights the complexity of tasks and whether constraints such as scope or budget are holding back productivity.
6. Focus hours per day
Focus hours per day refer to completely uninterrupted work time. They are dedicated work, focusing on a task with undivided attention.
Post-COVID remote setups made it especially relevant, raising the question: Are offices or homes more distracting?
Focus hours per day fall into two categories:
- Deep work: This relates to the time employees focus on tasks without interruption. One way to determine this is by looking at an employee’s calendar and the number of interruptions. If an employee has meetings with only 30-minute breaks in between, they likely haven’t engaged in focused or deep work.
- Operational work: This is the work done to ensure you can be productive. It can be addressing emails or small tasks that take up to 15 minutes (or two hours if not addressed immediately). To measure this, add up how long these tasks take on a daily basis and average it over a month.
HR tip: Host a productivity hackathon
Hackathons are a great way to bring people together, have them collaborate, and generate great ideas. Consider organizing a hackathon-like event where the goal is for teams to come up with ways to boost their productivity. As each team will have its own challenges and preferred ways of working, the ‘productivity hacks’ they’ll come up with will differ per team.
Now, let’s dive into some industry-specific productivity metrics.
Customer service productivity metrics
7. First-call resolution
As the name indicates, first-call resolution (FCR), also known as first-contact resolution, refers to a company’s ability to resolve a customer query at the first point of contact. This means that after the customer contacts an employee or the company for the first time, there is no need for a follow-up.
Improving FCR means customer service teams are handling cases more efficiently, which increases capacity to serve others and reduces customer frustration. It’s a strong indicator of both team productivity and customer satisfaction.
The formula for first-call resolution is:
First-call resolution = 100 x (Issues resolved on first contact / Total issues handled)
The result is expressed as a percentage, and the goal is to increase that percentage over time. A high FCR suggests strong product knowledge, effective training, and well-documented processes.
8. Ticket creation to full resolution time
Unlike first-call resolution, which focuses on resolving issues immediately, this metric tracks how long it takes to fully resolve a customer’s issue, regardless of how many interactions are needed. It offers insight into the quality and efficiency of your customer support process over time.
To get an accurate view, analyze each support ticket and monitor how long it takes to close it completely. This includes identifying trends in delays, assessing which types of requests take longer, and understanding whether internal bottlenecks are affecting resolution speed.
Full resolution time is measured in hours (or days).
The formula is:
Average resolution time = Total resolution time for all tickets resolved / Number of tickets resolved
9. Support ticket response times
This metric tracks how long it takes for a customer service representative to respond to a ticket after it’s submitted. It covers only the first response—not the total time to resolve the issue—and helps assess how quickly the team engages with customer inquiries.
Fast response times don’t guarantee quick resolutions, but they do shape customer perception. Even if a problem takes time to solve, timely responses can build trust and keep customers informed.
It’s important to tailor expectations based on ticket type and complexity. For example, a customer asking a time-sensitive question about flight changes will expect a faster response than someone asking about general baggage policy.
To calculate this metric accurately, segment tickets by topic or priority and measure the average first-response time per group.
Sales productivity metrics
10. Sales growth
Sales growth measures a company’s ability to generate revenue over a fixed period of time through sales. Understanding sales growth is vital to improving productivity and implementing various initiatives to stimulate sales growth further.
The formula is:
Sales growth rate = (Current period sales – Prior period sales) / (Prior period sales * 100)
This will give you a percentage indicating the growth rate between two time periods. A positive number means sales increased, while a negative number shows a decrease.
11. Revenue per sales representative
On an individual level, revenue per sales representative indicates each sales rep’s productivity. It helps evaluate an individual’s or team’s ability to generate revenue. Having a clear understanding of this metric helps foster a healthy, competitive team environment if done correctly.
However, it is essential to establish a baseline. Not all employees are equal. Some are more senior; others operate in more favorable locations.
You can calculate the average revenue per sales rep and then compare it with the revenue per employee in the sales team.
The formula for average revenue per sales representative is:
Average revenue per sales rep = Revenue from sales / Number of sales representatives
This metric can be tracked monthly, quarterly, or yearly, depending on your sales cycle. It’s often used in performance reviews, incentive planning, and workforce forecasting.
Software development productivity metrics
12. Defect escape ratio
The defect escape ratio measures the percentage of bugs found in production compared to the total number of bugs identified during development and testing. A higher ratio suggests issues are slipping through QA, while a lower ratio points to stronger testing processes.
Most teams aim for 5% or less, with the ideal being close to zero. Tracking this metric over time helps evaluate the effectiveness of your QA process and identify where improvements are needed.
The formula is:
Defect escape ratio = (Bugs found in production / Total number of bugs) * 100
Remote work productivity metrics
13. Virtual meeting load (hours per week)
This tracks how many hours employees spend in virtual meetings during a typical week. While meetings are essential for collaboration, too many can interrupt focus time and reduce productivity. A high virtual meeting load may signal poor meeting hygiene—too many unnecessary calls or poorly timed check-ins.
Tracking this metric helps identify opportunities to streamline meetings, shift some updates to async formats, and protect time for deep work.
14. Response time to messages
This measures the average time it takes for employees to respond to internal communications, such as Slack, Teams, or email. In a remote or asynchronous setup, this metric helps assess communication efficiency and individual engagement levels.
Extremely fast response times might suggest context switching or pressure to always be “on”, while long delays can indicate unclear expectations or overload. Tracking response time helps teams align on norms and spot blockers early.
Remote flexibility and engagement
According to Gallup’s Hybrid Work Indicator, exclusively remote and hybrid employees tend to have significantly higher employee engagement than on-site workers: 32% and 36% vs. 27%.
15. Digital presenteeism (activity vs. outcome)
Digital presenteeism is when employees stay online and active, responding to messages and attending meetings despite being unwell, burned out, or mentally disengaged. It’s the remote version of showing up at the office just to be seen.
This behavior can hurt productivity and wellbeing in the long run. One way to measure it is through tools like the Stanford Presenteeism Scale, or by comparing output to online activity. If someone is highly active but producing little work, it could be a red flag.
16. Home-office satisfaction
Just like the office or any other work environment affects people’s employee experience, satisfaction, and productivity, so does a remote office or work environment. This metric is typically measured through short surveys asking employees how satisfied they are with their home setup, equipment, internet reliability, and noise levels.
Understanding this can help you improve support for remote workers and spot environmental issues that may be hurting performance.
17. Number of distractions logged
This metric is similar to the self-rated productivity we mentioned earlier. Here, too, asking remote employees to log the number of distractions can seem like an ambiguous task, but by asking the right questions, it can become clearer. Examples include:
- How many hours of focused work were you able to complete this week?
- How many distractions did you encounter?
Frequent distractions can indicate unclear boundaries, excessive notifications, or an overloaded meeting schedule. Tracking this over time helps pinpoint and reduce productivity blockers.
Over to you
Productivity will always be a central concern for companies, but the way we measure it should evolve. Ask employees which metrics make sense for them, how those metrics support their work, and where improvements can be made. That way, you’re not just collecting numbers—you’re actually helping teams perform better.
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