Productive time
Objective. Define productive time as time on work classified as productive, and make clear it is a classification signal, not proof of output.
Productive time is the most persuasive and most abused figure in activity reporting. It rests on a classification someone configured, so it is only as honest as that classification and the admission of what it cannot see.
See it in the demo
Definition
Productive time is the amount of active time an employee spent on applications, sites or activities that have been classified as productive for their role. It is derived from how work is labelled, so it reflects a configured judgement about what counts as productive, not an independent measure of value delivered.
How it is calculated
At app-logic level: sum the active time that falls on productive-classified applications and activities for each person over the period. Included: active time on items labelled productive. Excluded: time on items labelled non-productive or neutral, and idle time below the active threshold. Classifications are configurable per role and customer, and offline or non-captured work is not represented. Confirm the classification scheme, role mappings and capture coverage with product - the figure is only meaningful relative to those.
How to read it and the common misread
Read productive time as a coverage and focus signal to investigate with context, not as a verdict. The core misread, called out in the product grounding, is that a non-productive label is not proof an employee did no useful work - a classification can be wrong, work can happen offline or in uncaptured tools, and legitimate tasks can look idle. Treat low productive time as a prompt to ask why, never as a conclusion on its own.
Where it appears
Productive time and classifications live in Employee Monitoring under productivity and activity, and feed productivity views in Time and Activity. Classification schemes and capture coverage are SME-validation-pending; confirm with product.
Interpretation check
Productive time depends on a configured classification and visible capture; a non-productive label is not proof that no useful work was done.
Practical task
Open the monitoring overview, find productive time for one person or team, and write a two-line note: what it suggests, and two legitimate reasons the figure could understate real useful work.
Self-check
An employee shows low productive time. What is the wrong conclusion and what is the right next step?
Wrong: conclude they did no useful work. Right: investigate - check the classification, whether work happened offline or in uncaptured tools, and the agent coverage. Low productive time is a prompt to ask why, not a verdict.
Why can the same behaviour produce different productive time at two customers?
Because the productive/non-productive classification is configured per role and customer. Different labels of the same tools yield different productive time, so the figures are not comparable without aligning classifications.
What must you confirm with product before trusting productive time?
The classification scheme and role mappings, and the capture coverage - which agents and activities are actually recorded - since uncaptured work simply does not appear.
Verified vs demo. Productive time and classifications are shown in the Employee Monitoring demo; classification schemes, role mappings and capture coverage are configurable and SME-validation-pending - confirm with product.