Fuel better business outcomes with an informed, effective productivity action plan.
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Why employee productivity is a top priority for CHROs in 2025
Fifty-six percent of CEOs have made growth their top priority for 2026. With the pressure to achieve more with fewer resources, employee productivity is in the spotlight. But traditional growth tactics — market consolidation, labor arbitrage and cheap financing — are losing their edge, and a growing number of organizations are not meeting their productivity targets.
CHROs have a key role to play in enabling employees to maximize their productivity potential. As CEOs turn to HR for robust growth strategies, 65% of HR leaders emphasize that boosting employee productivity is crucial to achieving the best possible growth outcomes for the business.
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4 strategic CHRO practices improve employee productivity and increase revenue
Organizations that take action on four productivity best practices can increase employee productivity by up to 35%. This translates to an individual employee working 2.8 more hours a day, generating more than $47,000+ in extra revenue annually.
Employee productivity practice No. 1: Become a productivity partner
Employees, managers and business leaders view productivity in different and sometimes contradictory ways. Executing on traditional HR initiatives and hoping productivity will follow by default won’t suffice.
To help employees reach their productivity potential, directly address productivity with targeted programs, policies and explicit goals to ensure that leaders, managers and employees at all levels can effectively measure it.
When HR gets directly involved in providing direction for productivity strategy and execution, employee productivity increases by up to 11%.
Employee productivity practice No. 2: Close critical GenAI gaps
GenAI has great potential, and many leaders expect it to be a growth and productivity driver — but only 8% of employees are fully capturing productivity gains by using GenAI tools.
To achieve the desired productivity benefits of GenAI, plug three productivity leaks: limited awareness, inconsistent adoption and ineffective use.
When an organization addresses employees’ awareness, adoption and use of GenAI, employees can be up to 8% more productive, and they’re 2.7 times as likely to experience speed and quality gains from GenAI.
Employee productivity practice No. 3: Reframe the return-to-office debate
Productivity is less about where work gets done and more about how work gets done. A recent Gartner survey found that 21% of both on-site employees and hybrid employees were ranked equally likely to be highly productive.
Recent return-to-office (RTO) mandates show no immediate impact on employee productivity. But these mandates can have a negative impact on talent outcomes, including a 10% decrease in intent to stay and a 19% increase in the number of employees engaging in “quiet quitting.”
A productivity-focused team environment has the greatest positive impact on the productivity of both hybrid and on-site employees, increasing employee productivity by up to 11%.
Employee productivity practice No. 4: Emphasize data context over quantity
Data is useful, but on its own it can give an incomplete picture. The real value is in understanding the context in which the data was collected.
Organizations that lean heavily on quantitative data to improve employee productivity tend to omit nonmeasurable and nondigital labor. This can inadvertently encourage employees to game the system, and negatively impact employee engagement.
Instead, invest in getting detailed contextual information for a focused set of metrics. This has almost twice the impact on employee productivity compared to investing in acquiring more quantitative data on a variety of metrics.
Address all four strategies to boost employee productivity and support business growth
CEOs cite talent/workforce and culture/people management as the most critical challenges to enterprise growth. Learn how your peers are building and implementing action plans to boost productivity and meet business goals.
Employee productivity FAQs
How should I measure employee productivity?
A working measure of employee productivity for knowledge workers is the combination of employee efficiency (employees doing quality work consistently and on time) and employee value creation (employees devoting their time and skills to work that is results oriented and focused on organizational priorities).
What are some challenges associated with using GenAI to boost employee productivity?
The AI landscape is a moving target as employee needs change alongside innovation and adoption. The use of AI can create anxiety among employees who are concerned about being replaced by technology. Introducing AI into workflows also has the potential to disrupt the employee experience.
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Join Gartner experts and your peers to accelerate growth
Gather alongside CHROs and human resources leaders on October 27 – 29 in Orlando to gain insight on emerging trends, receive one-on-one guidance from Gartner experts and create a strategy to tackle your priorities head-on.
27 – 29 Oct 2025
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo™
Orlando, FL
Drive stronger performance on your mission-critical priorities.