#productivity

They pushed RTO hard and productivity somehow dropped instead of improving. Who'd have thought? (Other than everybody with two functioning brain cells, of course.)

I accomplished something today in about 20 minutes with my manager using Copilot a project that would have taken the India team 11 hours to accomplish. 1 hour to explain. 6 hours to read the document and do the work. Another hour to re-explain what I wanted because they did it wrong, and then another 3 hours to finish the project.

The co-pilot answer was structured, tabular, concise, without excessive use of passive voice that makes my brain hurt.

Definitely the future

Confirmed by a senior leader.

It’s frustrating that they do not see how it’s impacting productivity of the entire workforce.

Reduce the workforce by 50% and let the other 50% do their job in peace. Right now , no one is doing their full potential because it’s always layoff axe on their necks.

Is it actually causing layoffs? Is it really being used productively anywhere? I'm not talking about CoPilot, but rather focused projects with a specific purpose. Would be interested in hearing from people involved with or affected by such endeavors, rather than the usual PR fluff that gets spewed by leadership.

I'm really not trying to rant here, I'm actually asking. Does anyone feel productive when they come in? My office days are pure chaos. People talking about sports, playing on their phone, solving puzzles together. Random coworkers keep stopping by my desk to chat. I spend half my energy just trying to tune it all out so I can do my job. At home I get ten times the work done. How is any of this helping us collaborate?

A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates AI will reshape jobs rather than eliminate them immediately. The report suggests AI will augment more roles than it replaces in the near term. White-collar occupations, including finance and technology, are most exposed to AI tools. This technology is expected to boost productivity without a proportional increase in hiring. However, long-term effects on employment and wages remain uncertain.

New York, NY

https://www.thestreet.com/employment/ai-wont-trigger-mass-layoffs-yet-fed-study-says

1. They’ve been delayed to add more names to the list.
2. But they’re ready to go now. Week of 4/27.
3. Leaders have been asked to provide team productivity data.
4. I heard 10% and 20%. Worst number was 40% (of PHK Tech, not Global), probably over several waves.

Every time I see stories about “coffee badging,” it’s hard not to feel frustrated. Some people are effectively gaming the system and collecting paychecks, while others are putting in real effort and trying to make a meaningful contribution.

FIRE THEM ALL!

No revelations yet, besides my expenses going up and feeling like they want to get rid of us. I haven't met new people, I haven't expanded collaboration beyond my usual circle (whom I communicate with online), and I most definitely haven't become more creative. I do focus less, and my productivity has fallen somewhat, so there's that.

(27 minute run time)

https://www.wsj.com/video/how-ibm-is-measuring-ais-real-impact-on-productivity/E30AB12D-6125-4C4C-AB92-050C534B46F2

By: Wall Street Journal |
March 26, 2026

Nickle LaMoreaux, chief human resources officer at IBM, discusses how the company is reimagining HR and the broader workforce through the lens of AI and experience-driven strategy.

Serious question .. what is the point of announcing layoffs being silent for months and tepeating this a few times a year so people are terrified all the time and productivity falls? I understand need to cut costs but the way we do it makes no sense

Verizon is currently conducting time and motion studies:

1. The Core Concept
   A "Time and Motion" study is a method used to determine the "standard time" it should take to complete a specific task.

Time Study: Measuring how long a technician takes to complete an install or repair (e.g., "30 minutes for a router setup").

Motion Study: Analyzing the steps or movements involved to find the most efficient way to do the work with the least amount of wasted effort.

1. Modern Application: Verizon Connect
   In 2026, Verizon doesn't just use stopwatches; they use AI-driven software. Their "Time and Motion" data is captured through:

GPS & Telematics: Tracking "dwell time" (how long a van is parked at a customer’s house) to see if the work matches the scheduled duration.

Planned vs. Actual (PVA) Reporting: Comparing how long a job should have taken versus how long it actually took.

Breadcrumb Trails: Seeing the physical route and movements of a technician to eliminate "dead miles" or inefficient routing.

1. Why Verizon Uses It
   Verizon uses this data for three main reasons:

Labor Standards: Setting realistic quotas for technicians so they aren't overworked, but also aren't idle.

Customer ETAs: Providing you with a "the tech will be there between 1:00 and 3:00" window based on real-time data of how long previous jobs are taking that day.

Cost Reduction: Identifying where time is being wasted—such as a technician having to return to the warehouse because they didn't have a specific part (a "motion" error).

1. Technician Perspective
   If you are a Verizon employee, "Time and Motion" is often the metric used to evaluate your productivity. It measures your "wrench time" (actual work) versus your travel time and breaks. High-performing techs are those whose "actual" times consistently align with the "standard" times determined by these studies.

If it can tell me how to stop anyone at or above p3 from scheduling a meeting to "discuss tomorrows meeting."

Tomorrows meeting by the way is billed as "brief introduction..."

Maybe we can get a Kindergarten teacher to come in and give their TED talk on "introduction best practices?"

I’m told I can’t have my phone out at my desk even if it’s just to pull it out and turn on music while I work.

Meanwhile, the people who sit in the next row over talk all day and it’s so distracting. I have no idea how to get anything done. And I have people from other areas walking over to them all day long as well and all these people talk about are their lunch plans and then complain about their peers at other sites.

I need to put my AirPods in and listen to something that helps me stay focused- the way I see it. I’ll get fired either way… either from pulling my phone out to turn on Spotify or because my work is not as productive as it used to be because of these geniuses that sit around me who have zero respect for others.

Is a reduction of workforce at Nike a bad thing? Revenue growth will come from productivity growth. More efficient teams. Motivated teams. AI. A reduction is not a bad if done right. And, to what I can see, 90% of the time, the right choices are being made.

Long-term projects are impossible to justify in this environment. Tons of Q4 work getting backlogged because the reorg is taking too long and we don't know if we'll have capacity to cover it.

Very positive article, as it's nearly proof-of-concept that we're one step closer to getting executives completely replaced by AI bots.

• IBM's Dave McCann is using an AI agent to prepare for client meetings.
• He said "Digital Dave" helps him save five hours a week by eliminating 30-minute prep calls.
• Companies from tiny startups to the biggest firms are building AI agents to take on routine work.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-agent-saving-ibm-consulting-leader-hours-every-week-2026-4

By: Tim Paradis |
Apr 9, 2026, 1:06 PM CT

Dave McCann oversees thousands of humans, and also an AI agent he named after himself: Digital Dave.

One of the most valuable things it does is conduct research, including on the company's customers. That's a big help for McCann, who, as a global managing partner for transformation at IBM Consulting, is responsible for thousands of clients, including Nestlé, Ericsson, and Riyadh Air.

The agent — it's actually a collection of AI agents and assistants — scans McCann's calendar for client meetings and drafts a list of 10 things he needs to know for each one. The goal, McCann told Business Insider, was to free up time he and his staff spent preparing for the meetings.

Under the old setup, people on his team would put together a briefing document with him and typically have a 30-minute prep call ahead of the client meeting.

"All that's now gone," said McCann, who is tasked with helping transform the global IBM Consulting business, which has nearly 150,000 employees.

He generally talks with about 10 clients a week, so the agent saves him roughly five hours of prep time, McCann said.

"All the time I used to invest in client prep, I can now see more clients," he said.

Freeing up the team

McCann's research agent, which he and his team began building this past fall, is based on a tool that a group at the company had started to develop as part of an annual internal competition.

The agent reviews in-house data, what IBM and the client are doing in the market, external data, and account details — such as project status and services sold and purchased, McCann said. It can also identify industry trends and client needs by, for example, reviewing a firm's annual report and identifying a corresponding service IBM could provide.

Digital Dave also saves McCann's team time, he said, because the three or four staffers who used to spend hours pulling together insights for the prep calls are now free to do other work.

"It's not just about driving efficiencies, but it's really about transforming how work gets done," McCann said.

The agent's research abilities aren't limited to client reports. McCann has also begun using it to help him assess the hundreds of IBM Consulting partners he evaluates each year. The goal, he said, is making informed decisions and giving the execs good advice about their strengths and weaknesses as part of their performance evaluation.

McCann said the data the agent reviews can include the services execs sold and the profits they generated, the training they provided, and the impact they had on their teams' development. Before the agent, he said, his approach involved perhaps a dozen spreadsheets culminating in "the worst pivot table of your life."

Now, McCann said, all of the data goes into a model, and he can ask pointed questions and make queries about top performers in a particular parameter.

'That multiplier effect'

One benefit of building agents, McCann said, is that IBMers who develop them can share them with others on their team or more broadly within the company, "so it immediately creates that multiplier effect."

Many of the people who report to him have created agents, he said. There's a healthy competition, McCann said, to engineer the most robust digital sidekicks, especially because workers can build off of what their colleagues created.

Across industries, companies are developing AI agents to take on knowledge work — especially tedious tasks — once handled by humans. From one-person startups to consulting giants, firms are using agents across functions such as HR, IT, finance, communications, and training.

Agents can handle a range of functions, including gathering information, processing paperwork, drafting communications, taking meeting minutes, and pulling research. It's still early, but these systems are quickly becoming a major focus of corporate AI efforts as companies look to turn generative AI into something that can actually take work off employees' plates.

One challenge McCann sees with clients and building agents is having access to data. IBM Consulting's most advanced clients — maybe a Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 company — might have given access to data to several hundred people, but not to 5,000 people in their finance division or 10,000 people in HR, McCann said. Concerns about security and how to manage the innovation can be roadblocks.

Until you unlock the data, individual workers might be able to get more done, but "you don't get that multiplier effect of the productivity," he said.

For McCann's work, Digital Dave means that he gets critical time back on his calendar.

"I can have much more focused attention out with our clients and with our humans while I have the operations of the business now being run more digitally," he said.

There’s an unspoken expectation to always appear busy, even when work is under control. You always need to show activity. Like they want us to be constantly stressed. Sadly, these days, productivity is all about perception rather than actual results. How low this place has fallen.

Training sessions are short and packed with information. There’s not enough time to actually absorb anything properly. Afterward, you’re expected to perform like you fully understand everything. Who thought this was a good idea?

Getting anything done across teams requires going through multiple people. Even simple requests turn into long chains of communication, and by the time something actually moves forward, the urgency is usually gone. Collaboration is way more complicated than it should be.

The tool sprawl here is ridiculous. There's so much overlap and no clear guidance on what to use when. It makes everything more complicated than it needs to be. I spend way too much time just figuring out where things live.

While I have no control over management decisions, I do have control over my own actions. My response is straightforward: if my compensation is reduced, my productivity will decrease at the same proportional rate.

Come on guys, what a joke.
Plano office is basically a ghost town of productivity. Hardly anyone actually working.

My entire team? Mostly H4EAD housewives from Telangana who’ve been here 10+ years and still have zero clue how the software actually works. Their real expertise? flawless coffee badging 3 days a week. Ethics? Work ethic? Initiative? Bro, those words left the building decades ago.
Everyone’s just coasting, collecting paychecks, and pretending this circus is sustainable. In the AI era… how long is this absolute clown show supposed to keep running? Seriously, someone tell me. I’m dying to know.

#CorporateLife #CoastingCulture #ProductivityMyth

Stop laying off every 3 months. Do one and done. Stop changing plans please. People will be more productive.

What does it mean for a location when Fort Worth sends two individuals for a week to observe productivity and practices 👀 and nobody in management was aware they were coming. One guy for car and one for locomotive.

Am I the only one whose productivity wend down due to AI? Checking and rechecking things is taking more time than doing something on my own. I'm just saying, this AI push might not have the results they're hoping for.

I guess this would be a question for management ,MBA that are out there if you are top seller in a department, but you don’t get as many credits as they want. Can they threaten to write up that person saying that productivity is not met? can’t ask HR as they will see the case. after three conversations, they are writing up whoever doesn’t get a credit. Is this allowed?

I hear AI is axing jobs. KC seems to think its a job eliminator to cut back on people. Rumor Ive heard our CHRO has in mind anyway. Whats the strategy. Productivity or cost savings?

Until this layoff situation is clearer, I'm doing nothing.

That's AI productivity for you

This is pretty crazy:

https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/anthropic-claude-disruptive-company-pentagon/

I'm sure there's a large amount of effort that goes into validation, but yikes. Meanwhile, AI from MS lags pretty far behind, so WF people are safe for a bit. Has anyone seen any actual AI agent automation being experimented with in any meaningful way at this point? If so, tell us what it's doing!

Be honest... how many real hours are you working per week?

Not meetings or being online… actual focused work. 10? 15?

I think most people spend their time in meetings instead of actually working.

Nothing ki-ls motivation faster than knowing your every move is being scrutinized. I'm spending more time documenting what I'm doing than actually doing it. I've noticed that many folks have started checking boxes instead of solving problems which ensures few things actually get done. What's with the sudden pivot to micromanaging? Or is this my area only?

Friday tomorrow, you know what that means, focus room reserved. I’ll be there at 6am with my yeti cup full 3/4 Jack Daniels 1/4 Joe. I’ll spend the morning researching March madness picks and calling my bookie, from the privacy of my office of course. I’ll go for my 30 minute morning dump and then a walk to see some friendlies around 9. Obviously share the sauce. Around 11 I head out for a liquid lunch at a nearby watering hole then take a little siesta in the truck. When I wake up I head back inside to jiggle my mouse and watch March madness games. It’s 2pm before you know it and I’ve hit my 8 hours, weekend is here. Time to close up and head to the bar for a couple more drinks and a basket of wings while I cash my bets. RTO ain’t so bad, there’s really no pressure to do anything besides show up and check the box. Life is good.

They cost a bunch right away with severance and other related stuff, and then they hire new people who might be cheaper but are less productive and sometimes need two new employees to cover what one person used to do. How does that somehow equate to savings?

Hearing from certain people about reports tracking amount of time we are “active” and people with low numbers being called out? Any truth to this? Had anyone heard anything similar?

Why is Xerox still paying people to essentially do nothing? I know quite a few AR and claims jobs that require 1 person tops to do yet they still pay them...

Does anyone know the final date now?

It’s getting very unproductive in the sense there is no clarity to do or to not do any work?

A lot of economists think the 40 hour workweek is outdated because it was designed for factory labor in the early 1900s. Today most work is knowledge work, and studies show productivity often drops after about 30–32 hours. The 40 hour work week was designed to keep you tired and to control you.

1. Folks will spend more time finding available seats
2. Will spend more time commuting during peak hours
3. Will log in less at home if 8 hours requirement is met for day.
4. People may work on different shifts like 6am-2pm vs 9-5 vs 10-6. It’s hard to schedule meeting across different time zones.
   What else?