Workers are becoming more productive. Here are the main 2 reasons why.

By Weston Blasi

About 36% of workers say they are putting in more hours than in the previous year

Workers are being more productive, and managers are noticing.

About seven in 10 hiring managers (68%) said that the productivity of their employees is up from last year, according to a new study from Robert Half, and there are two reasons why.

The first reason is that employeees are working longer hours. More than one in three workers (36%) claimed they were putting in more hours than in the previous year. Gen Z (53%) and millennials (37) were the most likely generations to report a year-over-year increase in their work hours.

"Despite a complex job market where hiring has been more measured and some teams are operating leaner than in previous years, workers are finding ways to be more productive even if it means working longer hours," Dawn Fay, operational president at Robert Half, told MarketWatch.

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"Teams are doing their part to keep business success on track," Fay added. "Employers should consider flexible work options but also flexible hiring strategies such as contract workers, which can be a tremendous opportunity for the success of a business and their staff."

It's worth pointing out that working more hours does not always lead to an increase in productivity. There is some data that suggest working fewer hours, like a four-day work week instead of a traditional five-day week, could be just as productive.

The data surrounding worker productively, in terms of total hours being worked, come as the job market has cooled in recent months. Unemployment has ticked up to 4.3%, a three-year high, and the U.S. created just 114,000 new jobs in July, signaling a hiring slowdown.

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But increased worker productivity cannot only be explained by longer hours. Employers who participated in the survey also cited another factor in why productivity is on the rise: artificial intelligence.

About 36% of employees said they have improved their workplace efficiency due to emerging technologies such as generative AI. Workers surveyed said the new technology allows them to save time on low-impact tasks.

"Both workers and employers are embracing new technologies and trainings to improve efficiencies," Faye said. "In many cases, workers have been asked to do more with less and have taken on the challenge to keep projects on track."

The survey took responses from 2,500 workers over the age of 17 in the U.S., and responses from 2,500 U.S. managers who work at companies with 20 or more employees.

Over the past four quarters, U.S. productivity has increased at a rate of 2.7%, according to government data.

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Workers' opinions on AI in the study were consistent with data gathered in Microsoft's (MSFT) 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report. That report found that 75% of knowledge workers (employees who deal with information at work) use some form of AI at their jobs. And among those who use AI at work, 90% claimed it saves them time, while 85% said it helps them focus on their more important work.

"A big reason why workers are turning towards AI is because they are burned out," Dan Schawbel, an author and a managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, a research and thought-leadership agency, told MarketWatch. "There's only 24 hours in a day, and you can only stretch somebody so much before you need advancements in technology."

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-Weston Blasi

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08-20-24 1353ET

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