AUSTIN, Texas – The average workday shrank by 37 minutes in the past year, and fewer people are pulling overtime shifts, possible indications that managers are increasingly mindful of work-life balance in the post-Covid-19 era.

Time spent at work has fallen to 10 hours from more than 10.5 hours at the end of the second quarter of 2022, according to a study by workforce-analytics firm ActivTrak.

But even though workers are clocking in for shorter stretches, productivity has not slipped, the company found in a study released on Tuesday.

The research analysed 38 million hours worked by more than 134,000 employees globally across industries like financial services, healthcare, insurance and professional services.

“What we’re seeing here is truly an efficiency gain,” said Ms Gabriela Mauch, vice-president of the ActivTrak Productivity Lab.

The study also found a dip in the number of overutilised employees, or those frequently working outside regular business hours, to 28 per cent from 32 per cent a year earlier. That change may bode well for employees’ mental, physical and financial health.

Shorter workdays may mean that companies are listening to workers’ “cry for help as it relates to burnout”, Ms Mauch said.

Nonetheless, almost a third of employees continue to log days that stretch beyond 10 hours, according to the study. BLOOMBERG