How To Measure Productivity In The Workplace with AI

n the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic in business. Some years ago, it was considered a futuristic concept that meant robots would take over the world and humans would be replaced. However, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. In most cases, AI has enabled employees to work smarter, not harder. That means less manual work, more efficient processes, clearer communication, and better collaboration.

But that doesn’t mean all jobs are safe. Some positions such as data entry clerks, stock-keeping clerks, administrative secretaries, bookkeeping, and payroll clerks are said to have decreasing demand, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2020. However, those jobs are expected to be replaced by even more jobs, such as data analysts & scientists, AI & machine learning specialists, software & application developers, digital marketing & strategy specialists, etc. By 2025, that could mean 85 million jobs are displaced, with 97 million new jobs emerging. While that is an enormous shakeup, it’s not all doom and gloom as many expected.

The major reason organizations are adopting AI so fast is because it can efficiently measure productivity in the workplace. AI-based software and applications are changing the way we do business. Just look at 2019, for example. AI-based startups received $18.5 billion in capital from investors, and that’s expected to climb to $100 billion in 2023. With these software and application technologies moving at a rapid pace, the impacts on productivity in the workplace are causing ripples. And companies that aren’t adopting these technologies are falling to the wayside because they’re not keeping up with their competition who are using them.

So how exactly can an AI-based productivity platform enable better productivity for your organization?

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Measuring Productivity Levels of Entire Teams

AI can measure the productivity levels of entire teams, which saves time for busy managers and provides insights into which departments may need more help. AI can analyze trends over time and provide a snapshot to be viewed in real-time. This can help managers identify which teams or individuals may need skill development or coaching. At a glance (on one dashboard), managers can know exactly if a team is on track.

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AI Can Produce Productivity Reports

AI can provide productivity reports across an entire organization: individuals, teams, and even the entire company. Management doesn’t have to wait until the end of the quarter to see how everyone is doing. With real-time, up-to-date reporting, you can ensure projects are always done on time. No more figuring out what went wrong after the fact.

With continuous tracking, you can get a better idea of how a project is going. That way, if you can see a project is off track, you can better delegate or prioritize tasks to ensure it gets completed on time. By avoiding missed deadlines, you can ensure better customer satisfaction and reputation. AI-driven productivity tools like MetaSpark analyze everyone’s work to deliver insights. As your team completes tasks in MetaSpark, the AI analyzes the metadata behind it — the data about the data. This allows you to gain unprecedented insights into your employees’ contributions toward goals and OKRs.

AI Can Give Employees ‘Productivity Scores’

Since the pandemic forced millions of employees to work from home, many organizations began using various types of surveillance software to try to understand workforce productivity. This software tracks their every movement, such as keystrokes, websites visited, mouse movements, and even location. While this has proven to be a good way for managers to keep a close eye on their subordinates, it has also proven to damage morale and trust.

However, AI provides an alternative way for managers to know what employees are doing without spying on them. AI can give employees ‘productivity scores’ so managers can reward them for hard work based on their output. Because in the end, isn’t output what matters the most? Plus, this gives managers more time to focus on more important aspects of the business instead of constantly monitoring people. By allowing AI to measure performance and give productivity scores, you can see who’s performing well and who needs help. You can also reward those that get things done quickly and on time.

With MetaSpark, for example, employees can earn points for completing tasks on time. Over time, those points add up to meaningful rewards, like gift cards to their favorite store or donations to their favorite charity. MetaSpark’s AI can even measure how long it takes employees to complete tasks and forecast what their productivity levels will look like.

How Business Leaders Are Improving Employee Productivity with AI

Solid communication between managers, supervisors, employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders is a basic requirement of any business. However, a lot of these monotonous and recurring communications take up too much time and effort. AI-assisted software can help ensure that key emails and follow ups are never missed, without needing spend hours digging through an overflowing email inbox.

Additionally, AI-enabled project management systems have been able to improve performance management. With automated goal setting, leaders can better track progress and milestones and then provide real-time feedback through different channels. These goals are data-driven to remove any subconscious bias managers might have towards their subordinates. This can be especially helpful for organizations with remote workforces because AI can unearth insights without needing to micromanage employees.

A New Class of Productivity Software, Using AI

Often, employees can get bogged down having to switch between different productivity software and applications, which can disengage workers. But now there is a new class of productivity software. MetaSpark is an AI-driven productivity hub that automatically brings everyone’s tasks into one dashboard and analyzes their work output. It uses data from employees’ completed tasks to measure productivity and performance. This can also save management time because they can easily monitor productivity. Via productivity dashboards, managers can see which teams and individuals are most productive and which may need some help — even for remote employees.

Are you ready for accurate, data-driven insights into productivity across individuals, departments, and the entire organization? Learn more by scheduling a demo today!