New research finds AI is increasing the speed, density and complexity of work as adoption rapidly expands across organizations
AUSTIN, Texas, March 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The ActivTrak Productivity Lab today released its 2026 State of the Workplace report, analyzing one of the world’s largest behavioral datasets on how work happens inside organizations — including more than 443 million hours of digital workplace activity across 1,111 organizations and 163,638 employees. The findings show that while the workday is shrinking slightly (2%), AI is increasing the speed, density and complexity of work rather than reducing it.
Collaboration surged 34%, multitasking rose 12% and weekend work increased more than 40%. Meanwhile, focus time fell to a three-year low.
The report also found that 80% of employees now use AI tools at work — up 52% from two years ago — while the average time spent in AI tools increased eightfold. Organizations are rapidly expanding their AI stacks as well, with companies using seven or more AI tools on average, up from two in 2023.
Despite expectations that AI would reduce workloads, the findings show otherwise: AI is amplifying work activity across nearly every category measured. After AI adoption, time spent across work applications increased between 27% and 346%, including a 104% increase in email, a 145% increase in chat and messaging and a 94% rise in business management tools. Meanwhile, AI users’ average daily focused time declined 23 minutes.
The findings highlight a growing AI measurement gap: while adoption is surging across organizations, most companies still lack reliable data on how AI is actually changing productivity, focus and workforce capacity.
Key Findings
AI Adoption and Impact
- 80% of employees use AI tools — up 52%, with average time in AI tools up 8x
- The average company uses 7+ AI tools, up from 2 in 2023, with ChatGPT dominating by a factor of 27x
- Among AI users, time spent across every measured work category increased between 27% and 346% — with email up 104%, chat and messaging up 145% and business management up 94%1
- Employees who spend 7-10% of their total work hours in AI tools show the highest productivity (95%) of any usage tier, yet only 3% of users fall within that range
- AI users spent 9% more days in healthy utilization patterns than non-users
- AI users’ daily focus time declined 9%, compared to virtually no change for non-users
Productivity
- Workday shrank 2% (8h 53m → 8h 44m)
- Productive hours increased 5% (+19m) to 6h 36m daily
- Employees start earlier (7:48 a.m. vs 8:02 a.m.)
- Productive sessions grew 13% — from 24m 25s to 27m 30s daily
- Average focused session declined 9% — from 14m 23s to 13m 7s daily
- Collaboration surged 34% (+13m) to 52m daily
- Multitasking rose 12% (+10m) to 1h 33m daily
Employee Wellbeing and Engagement
- 75% of employees maintain healthy work patterns — a three-year high (up from 66%)
- Burnout risk fell 22% — now just 5% of employees
- Overutilized employees dropped 42% — from 12% to 7%
- Disengagement risk affects nearly 1 in 4 — now 23% of employees (up from 19%)
- Saturday productive hours jumped 46% to 4h 37m daily average, with start times shifting from 8:35 a.m. to 7:11 a.m. — 1h 24m earlier
- Sunday productive hours rose 58%, with start times shifting from 12:24 p.m. to 10:58 a.m.
“AI adoption is accelerating faster than most organizations can measure its impact,” said Gabriela Mauch, Chief Customer Officer and Head of the ActivTrak Productivity Lab. “What our data shows is that AI isn’t reducing work, it’s increasing the speed and density of how work happens. The challenge leaders now face is closing the AI measurement gap and gaining real visibility into how AI is changing productivity, focus and workforce capacity.”
The State of the Workplace report analyzes three years of aggregated, anonymized workforce intelligence data collected through ActivTrak between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. More than 23 industries are represented in the data, with companies ranging from SMBs to large enterprises across sectors including Financial Services, Professional Services, Insurance, Legal Services, Construction and Engineering, Cloud Services and more.
To learn more about the ActivTrak Productivity Lab and how organizations can better plan for the future of work:
- Read the ActivTrak 2026 State of the Workplace report
- Visit the ActivTrak Productivity Lab
- Establish your productivity baseline
About the ActivTrak Productivity Lab
The ActivTrak Productivity Lab is the research and advisory division of ActivTrak, helping organizations understand how work is evolving in the AI era. Powered by one of the world’s largest behavioral datasets on workplace activity, the Lab analyzes aggregated workforce intelligence data from thousands of organizations to uncover how productivity, AI adoption and collaboration patterns are changing — and works with customers, partners and consultancies to translate those insights into measurable improvements in performance, workforce effectiveness and operational strategy. Grounded in privacy-first analytics and responsible data practices, the Productivity Lab advances a deeper understanding of how work impacts both organizational performance and the people behind it. Learn more at www.activtrak.com/productivity-lab/.
About ActivTrak
ActivTrak provides workforce intelligence data that helps organizations understand how work changes in the AI era. Its award-winning platform transforms behavioral data from people, applications and AI tools into insights that help leaders measure AI impact, optimize productivity and improve operational performance. Built on privacy-first data, ActivTrak enables organizations to make insight-driven decisions that deliver measurable ROI and stronger business outcomes. Trusted by more than 9,500 organizations worldwide and recognized by Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, Inc. 5000, TrustRadius and G2, ActivTrak is backed by Elsewhere Partners, Sapphire Ventures and Francisco Partners. Learn more at www.activtrak.com
1 Before/after AI adoption findings uses an analytical subset of 376 companies and 10,584 users to compare work activity 180 days before and after AI adoption.
SOURCE ActivTrak