Only 28.4% of the global workforce operates at healthy utilization levels, highlighting urgent need for workload redistribution
BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — ProHance, a next-generation AI-led Workforce Management and Operations Enablement platform, recently released its Global Productivity Benchmarking Report – YTD/Q3 2025, offering deep insights into how over 211,600+ users across 68 global enterprises are working, engaging, and delivering productivity in today’s hybrid-first environment.
The report reveals a striking imbalance in workforce utilization globally. While organizations continue to log long working hours, only 28.4% of employees operate within a healthy workload range, with 36.4% overworked and 35.3% underutilized — underscoring that productivity challenges today are less about capacity shortages and more about uneven workload allocation. Workload imbalance is now structural, not seasonal and this has implications for employee engagement as well.
The study introduces a new Workload Utilization Analysis, categorizing employees as Healthy, Overworked, or Underutilized based on productive hours. The findings indicate that imbalance persists across industries, organization sizes, and geographies.
• BPO/KPO records the highest overwork levels, with 51.2% of users classified as overworked.
• IT Services and BFSI show high underutilization at 45.9% and 44.4%, respectively.
• Healthcare/RCM stands out as the only sector where healthy utilization (35.2%) exceeds both over- and under-utilization.
“These patterns clearly show that most organizations don’t need more people — they need better workload visibility and redistribution,” says Arvind Sagar, Senior Advisor, ProHance.
Hybrid work leads to longer days, not better output: One of the most compelling insights compares productivity across Work From Home (WFH), Work From Office (WFO), and Hybrid models.
• WFH emerges as the most efficient model, delivering the highest productive output with fewer logged hours and the lowest idle time.
• Hybrid employees log the longest hours (11h 18m) but without a proportional increase in productivity.
• The productivity gap between WFO and WFH has narrowed to just 36 minutes, highlighting the impact of focused productivity measurement across hybrid working.
APAC leads global productivity performance, as India and the Philippines continue to outperform other geographies, recording the highest productive hours and time on system.
• India averages 7h 48m of productive hours.
• Philippines follows closely at 7h 42m, but also shows the highest overwork risk, with 52.5% of users classified as overworked.
• Americas and Europe show higher under-utilization, indicating latent capacity that can be unlocked through better workload planning.
The data highlights a clear divide between APAC’s improving productivity trajectory and stagnation across non-APAC regions, emphasizing the need for region-specific workforce strategies.
Industries are converging toward a global productivity benchmark: Across sectors, productive hours have steadily improved from 2023 through 2025, with most industries now converging within the 7–8 hour productive range.
• IT/ITES has improved significantly over the last few years to now lead with 7h 54m. While GCC’s have improved in 2025 they still have scope for improvement as the lowest Sector at 7 Hr 18 Mins.
• The narrowing gap across industries signals increasing operational maturity and standardized productivity benchmarks globally.
A shift from measuring time to managing outcomes: The report reinforces a growing enterprise shift away from tracking logged hours toward productive time as the true north star — especially in hybrid work environments where presence no longer equals performance.
“Workload imbalance has implications far beyond efficiency — it directly impacts burnout, engagement, and long-term workforce sustainability,” adds Sagar, “organizations that focus on balancing capacity rather than expanding it will be better positioned to drive both productivity and employee well-being.”
The Report is based on ProHance’s extensive cross-industry and global footprint, offering leaders actionable insights to improve utilization, rebalance workloads, and build more resilient operating models.
To download the full report, click here.
ABOUT PROHANCE
ProHance is a next-gen AI-led Workforce Management and Operations Enablement platform that combines advanced analytics, machine learning, and automation to transform the way enterprises work. Its comprehensive suite of tools empowers organizations to elevate productivity, enforce compliance, optimize costs, and adapt seamlessly to evolving business landscapes. By delivering actionable, data-driven insights, ProHance enables leaders to unlock new levels of efficiency, resilience, and customer satisfaction. Today, ProHance is trusted by over 400,000 users across 36 countries to drive measurable value and achieve strategic business objectives with confidence.
ProHance has also been named a Major Contender in the Everest Group People Analytics Platforms PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025, as Trailblazer in the Everest Group Workforce Management in Contact Centres 2025 Report and consistently recognized by Gartner as a Representative Vendor in the Market Guide for Task Mining Tools.
For more information, follow us on LinkedIn or visit www.prohance.net
Shikha Mishra
ProHance
shikha.m@prohance.net
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