ProHance report shows rise in global average working hours

ProHance has released its Global Productivity Benchmarking Report for 2024, revealing a rise in average working hours across multiple industries.

The report, which analyses data from over 197,000 users across 65 organisations worldwide, indicates that the average hours worked increased from 9 hours 12 minutes in Q1 2023 to 9 hours 30 minutes by Q3 2024. This period also saw an increase in productive hours from 7 hours to 7 hours 30 minutes. Employees' time away from their workstations remained stable at 1 hour and 42 minutes from Q1 2023 to Q3 2024, with average idle time remaining at 30 minutes.

Brendan Maree, Vice President and Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at ProHance, stated, "The increase in productivity is encouraging to see across a broad range of sectors."

"We can see there is still some room for improvement, however, when it comes to reducing time spent away from workstations."

The report provides a detailed analysis of productivity by organisational size, showing large organisations (with more than 5000 employees) having the highest average productivity hours at 7 hours 36 minutes in Q3 of 2024. Medium-sized organisations (between 1000 and 5000 employees) logged 7 hours 18 minutes, while small organisations (fewer than 1000 employees) recorded 7 hours.

In terms of sector-specific data, the healthcare sector topped the list with an average of 7 hours 48 minutes of productive time.

It was followed by financial services at 7 hours 24 minutes and global capability centres at 7 hours 18 minutes. For average logged working hours, healthcare again led with 9 hours 42 minutes per day, followed by financial services (9 hours 42 minutes) and global capability centres (9 hours 36 minutes).

Commenting on these findings, Maree noted, "These results are interesting as they show a clear link between the average number of productive and the total hours worked. 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."

Maree added that the ProHance Global Productivity Benchmarking Report could aid organisations navigating hybrid and dynamic work models.

"Armed with this data, leaders can drive meaningful, analytics-based transformations to improve workforce efficiency and achieve sustainable growth," he said.

ProHance remains committed to enhancing workforce productivity by providing organisations with actionable intelligence to build effective operational frameworks. The report serves as a tool for identifying and bridging productivity gaps, equipping leaders with the information needed to foster workforce efficiency.