15 Most Surprising Productivity Statistics for 2017

Published July 24, 2017 by Rachel Burger in Project Management

If you’re anything like me, you obsess over productivity.

Whether you’ve invested in learning a specific productivity method, scroll through Inc. like it’s your job, or you’re constantly looking for the best new innovations in task tools and project management software, efficiency puts you at ease.

Despite your passion, though, you could be approaching productivity all wrong.

The science of productivity is an amorphous field, filled with university-level research and speculation. One only needs to skim through sites such as Lifehacker and Dumb Little Man to realize just how prolific content covering productivity has gotten.

Productivity statistics

To avoid all the hype surrounding this industry, I’ve gone through the latest research to find interesting, applicable, and sometimes shocking productivity statistics.

Test any of these methods out? Find any of them surprising? Be sure to let us know about your own efficiency hacks in the comments at the end of the article.

1. American workers estimate that their own personal productivity is 11 percentage points higher than the average American worker. (Source: Qualtrics) <– Click to Tweet

2. 75% of American workers don’t believe they have access to the latest efficiency-boosting technology. (Source: Staples) <– Click to Tweet

3. Employees who believe their workplace effectively uses mobile tech are more creative, satisfied, and productive at work. (Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit) <– Click to Tweet

4. Creative tasks that generate an emotional response encourage novel thinking and work dedication. (Source: Frontiers in Psychology) <– Click to Tweet

5. Employees who spend 60% to 80% of their time working remotely are likely to have the highest workplace engagement. (Source: Gallup) <– Click to Tweet

6. 22% of American’s are concerned about losing their jobs because they believe their industry is shrinking. (Source: Pew) <– Click to Tweet

7. Employee retention will increase 10% by 2020 in organizations that have a “choose your own work style” culture. (Source: Gartner) <– Click to Tweet

8. Stress over business changes lowers the average employee’s performance 5%. (Source: CEB) <– Click to Tweet

9. About 30% of employees are so stressed about finances that it interrupts their focus and productivity. (Source: Bank of America) <– Click to Tweet

10. The United States’s economy loses about $411 billion a year due to sleep loss. (Source: RAND Corporation) <– Click to Tweet

11. One study found that moving to a green building improves decision-making performance by 8%. (Source: Environmental Health Perspectives) <– Click to Tweet

12. Kaizen, a lean project management method, has been shown to improve employee well-being and social satisfaction. (Source: Human Relations) <– Click to Tweet

13. Employees and employers agree that stress is the biggest health concern in the workplace, but they disagree on why. (Source: Willis Towers Watson) <– Click to Tweet

14. When workers are happy, they’re more likely to perceive that their coworkers are more productive. (Source: The Center for Generational Kinetics) <– Click to Tweet

15. Pets in the workplace improve employee morale, productivity, and personal workplace satisfaction. (Source: Banfield) <– Click to Tweet

Are we missing key productivity statistics?

There’s no way that we’ve encompassed all productivity statistics here, seeing as productivity ranges from office productivity, psychology, team dynamics, and overall happiness. I’m sure that there are plenty of statistics that belong here that didn’t make the list.

Which productivity statistics do you think should have been covered here? Were there any statistics that were surprising to you? (I was, personally, surprised about how much having pets in the office helps productivity and happiness!)

I’d love to hear all of your reactions in the comments.

Can’t get enough information about productivity? Check out these related articles:

Looking for Project Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Project Management software solutions.

About the Author

Rachel Burger

Rachel is a former Capterra analyst who covered project management.

Comments

Comment by Nola Leuthner on Nov. 28, 2017 at 3:56 pm

Hi Rachel – As I sit here very frustrated, I went looking on something about productivity. Recently my company switched “Back Offices” in the financial industry. the new company lives for emails, difficult to get a name or call back number for anyone if you need more help. Click, Click. Hard to know if the web site is really up or the cloud taking to much time to load. At the end of the day, some smug person reminds you that you should go on line and look at all of the great information they have provided. The encyclopedia Britannica can say the same thing and look what happened to them. At some point, we need knowledgeable people that know the business well enough to actually help you. Otherwise, its just bad customer service and one email after another. Looks like work, but nothing really happens. Thanks for listening. Nola

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