#productivity

Do they not realize that happy workforce equals profits and unhappy one brings major drops in productivity? It's been proven again and again. What's their aim here? To keep making us more and more miserable until what? We quit? Is that what this is all about?

Not directly connected to Oracle but many companies in the industry are going this way. The world has changed this year…
—-
ZEB EVANS (CEO - ClickUp)

Today we reduced headcount by 22%. The business is the strongest it's ever been. So I think it's important to be direct about what I'm seeing and why.

First, I made this decision and I own it. I did it because the way to operate at the highest level of productivity is changing, and to win the future, ClickUp needs to change with it.

Second, this wasn't about cutting costs. Most savings from this change will flow directly back into the people who stay. We'll be introducing million-dollar salary bands. If you create outsized impact using AI, you'll be paid outside of traditional bands.

Most importantly, I have the deepest gratitude for those affected. We're doing this from a position of strength specifically so we can take care of people properly. Everyone affected receives a package aimed at honoring their contributions and easing the transition.

I only see two options: wait for this to play out gradually in the market or be honest about what I'm seeing and act proactively.

THE 100X ORGANIZATION
The primary change is that we're restructuring around what I call 100x org. The goal is 100x output. The roles required to build at the highest level are fundamentally different than they were a year ago.

Incremental improvements to existing systems won't get us there. We need new ones. That means creating enough disruption to rebuild rather than iterate on what's already broken.

The common narrative is that AI makes everyone more productive. It doesn't. Many of the workflows of today, if left unchanged, create bottlenecks in AI systems.

These roles will evolve. But waiting for that to happen naturally means falling behind now.

The 100x org is actually heavily dependent on people - infinitely more than today. This is only possible with 10x people that have embraced and adopted new ways of working.

THE BUILDERS, AGENT MANAGERS, AND FRONT-LINERS

— THE BUILDERS: 10X ENGINEERS
I don't think most companies have internalized what's actually happening with AI in engineering. The common narrative is that AI makes all engineers more productive. That may be true in isolation, but at an organization level - that is the farthest thing from reality.

Here's what we've validated recently at ClickUp: the great engineers, the ones who can orchestrate, architect, and review, are becoming 100x engineers. They're not writing code. They're directing agents that write code. The skill is judgment.

AI makes the best engineers wildly more productive, and everyone else using AI slows these engineers down.
Think about it - the bottlenecks are (1) orchestration - telling AI what to do, and (2) reviewing - what AI did. Everything is leapfrogged and no longer needed.
So who do you want orchestrating and reviewing code?

And how do you want your best engineers to spend their time?

If your best engineers are spending time reviewing other people's code, then this is inherently an inefficient bottleneck. These engineers can review their agent's code much faster than reviewing human code.

The new world is about enabling your 10x engineers to become 100x.

The wrong strategy is to push every engineer to use infinite tokens. Companies doing this are celebrating 500% more pull requests. But customer outcomes don't match the volume of code being generated.

I call this the great reckoning of AI coding, and every company will face this soon if not already.

More code is just another bottleneck to the best engineers, and ultimately to your company's impact as well.

— THE BUILDERS: 10X PRODUCT MANAGERS
Product management and design roles are merging.

Designers that have customer focus, become more like product managers.

And product managers that have intuition for UX become more like designers.

The bottleneck of user research is gone. It takes us just one mention of an agent to kickoff research and analyze results.

The bottleneck of product design iteration is also gone. The product builder iterates on their own, along with agents and skills that ensure alignment with quality and strategy.

Also controversial today - I believe that the wrong strategy is to have your PMs shipping code - that just introduces another bottleneck that the best engineers will waste their time on.

To be clear, PMs should be coding but they should do this in a playground to iterate, validate, and scope. That code should not go to production.

Everything outside of managing systems, orchestrating AI, and reviewing output becomes a bottleneck.
That's why the other roles that are critical along with these are the systems managers (to reduce bottlenecks) along with a bottleneck you can't replace - customer meeting time.

— THE SYSTEM MANAGERS
Ironically, the people that automate their jobs with AI will always have a job. They become owners of the AI systems - agent managers. We have many examples of these people at ClickUp.

The underlying systems in which we operate are absolutely critical to get right. I think most companies are delusional to think they can iterate on existing systems and compete in this new world.

You must create enough disruption so that old systems are deprecated entirely. If there's any definition for 'AI native' that's what it is.

— THE FRONT-LINERS
In a world that will become saturated with AI communication, the human touch will matter more than anything to customers.

This is a bottleneck that you shouldn't replace - even when agents are high enough quality to do video meetings.

One-on-one meeting time with customers is something that shouldn't be automated. The systems around the meetings should be - so that front-liners spend nearly 100% of their time with customers.

REWARDING 100X IMPACT
In a world where companies are able to do so much more with less, where does that excess money go?
In our case, much of the savings in this new operating model will flow directly back to those that enabled it.

We must reward people that create productivity accordingly. This aligns incentives on both sides. Plus, in a world where your best people create 100x impact, you can't afford to lose them.

You should aim to retain these employees for decades. The context they have and their ability to efficiently orchestrate and review will be nearly impossible to replace.

Compensation bands of today should be thrown out the door. We're introducing $1 million cash/year salary bands with a path available to nearly everyone in the company if they produce 100x impact by creating or managing AI systems.

THE FUTURE
Nearly every company will make changes like these. The ones that do it proactively will define what comes next.

The future is not fewer people. It's different work, new roles, and better rewards for those who embrace it. We're already seeing entirely new roles emerge, like Agent Managers, that didn't exist a year ago.

ClickUp is positioning to lead this shift, not just internally, but for our customers too. I've never been more certain about where we're headed.

https://x.com/dj_curfew/status/2057522382315929802

Our leadership is now looking at productivity in our org (Berry, planning ahead for something?

I was already a 10x engineer. Now I'm 3x10x. I think next week I'm slated to up that to 9x.
In a few more quarters, I figure I'll be outputting more PRs than atoms in the universe.

Cengage (and all textbook companies) have a major culture problem. These aren’t serious people. Everyone outside the companies talks about it.

What they deem as productivity measurements are distractions disguised as productivity. Constant Slack check ins by managers with emojis like a parent checking in on their children, the million Slack channels that are created, the utter useless salesforce boxes that have to be checked- and they wonder why they have stagnant growth. Teams Meetings that could be emails where everyone is in the chat sending gifs, getting asked immature d-mb questions and they want you to put your answer in the chat. Absolutely NONE of these items drive growth or productivity. It’s a culture of immaturity that are checking boxes that make them look like they are working and contributing. The hours wasted are immeasurable.

Everyone knew Slack was a massive distraction and doesn’t drive growth or sales 10 years ago. It should be used for acute things, not on the daily. Always behind the curve.

A Gartner study challenges the expected profits from AI-driven layoffs. Many organizations reducing staff with AI found little direct return on investment. The research surveyed 350 large global enterprises. Strongest AI returns came from enhancing employee productivity, not eliminating workers. Companies often underestimate hidden costs and the need for human oversight.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

https://mitechnews.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-layoffs-may-not-be-delivering-the-payoff-ceos-expected-gartner-study-finds/

Hi haters - this fiscal Nike has reduced the work force by roughly 4% while revenues have been flat vs last year. Conclusion; productivity per employee has gone up; these lay offs do make sense.

A continuation of stream lining the org and setting Nike up for the next 10 years of growth only makes sense.

Pre-WFH, I've had two managers who obsessed over start times and break lengths. Neither of them actually knew how to lead. They just watched the clock because it was easier than doing their real jobs. It never improved productivity, but it worked for them. Those are the kind of people who want us back in the office. To hide their own failings.

My life is ruined, my daycare bill is up , and over an hour commute to this sh---y Dallas building with sh-t parking and rediculous gas prices, this company is a joke, everyone is exhausted and less productive professionally and personally

Anyone who's spent five seconds using them knows that Excel is way better than Sheets than what you'd get from say, Copilot vs. Google Gemini. Are they trying to destroy my productivity? I already know the answer. You complete fu--ing mo--ns.

Concerned in the BH UM arena for coming layoffs. Not enough work to keep all of us at normal productivity with current loss in Marketplace.

WFH already proved it works. We did it for years. Output didn’t drop, and in most cases it actually improved. Turns out it’s the person doing the work that matters, not the chair they’re sitting in.

The irony is we sell global connectivity, yet don’t trust our own employees to work remotely on the very networks we provide. It’s a “do as I say, not as I do” situation, and everyone sees it.

If the goal were cost and efficiency, the answer is obvious… let people work from home. Less real estate, no commute drain, same or better output.

Instead, we’re spending more to force people into buildings to do the same work… on a screen.

So what’s the real objective here?

I was told by my manager that SAP is launching a global AI adoption program and will track the usage of LLMs and other AI features on SAP products. They plan to coincide the launch with Sapphire so there will also be a big buzz about it. I bluntly asked if this is going to be used to determine one's performance and my manager said yes. Apparently, we are all supposed to use AI as much as possible in our day to day work and improve efficiency and productivity by doing more work in less time. Our area is deciding to add an area level performance goal that everyone contributes to but we are also asked to include AI in our other goals.

I really don't get it. Yes, I find AI somewhat useful in my work especially if I am researching something. But NO it is not gamechanging to my work. I feel so disappointed by this move that I plan to only use AI but not get work done because no one cares about work anymore and all they care about AI adoption. I feel like we are training our replacements. If AI is useful, why does management need to force everyone to use it?

Half of our management can't even use AI because they are too old school and because they only use German in emails and chats and conversations and AI is somewhat useless in German. Is this also happening in other areas now?

Hey Billie D! Let’s see how well the bank does this quarter coming up with lower productivity because you can’t adapt to modern time and need to save face with all of the real estate you purchased by displacing employees who could manage work life balance for once. How fun!! Can’t wait to hear about it!

Started back to work and thought I’d take advantage of $5 North Shore Parking with a shuttle to and from downtown Pittsburgh. Because I don’t have the extra money to spend like most of us. What a bust. Shuttles weren’t running every 15 to 20 minutes as promised but rather an hour to an hour and a half long. So much for that. Got into the office and the majority of the floor was empty. Why did I bother? No work got done. I’m sure we are going to see productivity plummet. Wasn’t approved to work from home to be with my epileptic child. Job well done, Bill.

TRP is the only place I’ve worked where used a VDI; all other jobs provided a dedicated developer laptop. The VDI crashes all the time while I'm working. Honestly, how can you expect good results when the tools you’re given to build them are so unreliable?

My manager has this habit of asking for detailed updates on things that don't matter, formatting reports three different ways for no reason, and scheduling meetings about meetings. I spend at least five hours a week on tasks that nobody ever looks at or uses. It's just work for the sake of making him look busy. Why can't we get rid of people like him? Productivity would improve all around.

Any update on Ambetter LOB layoffs since the financial call today? My team isn’t meeting productivity and our census is terribly low.

They pushed RTO hard and productivity somehow dropped instead of improving. Who'd have thought? (Other than everybody with two functioning brain cells, of course.)

I accomplished something today in about 20 minutes with my manager using Copilot a project that would have taken the India team 11 hours to accomplish. 1 hour to explain. 6 hours to read the document and do the work. Another hour to re-explain what I wanted because they did it wrong, and then another 3 hours to finish the project.

The co-pilot answer was structured, tabular, concise, without excessive use of passive voice that makes my brain hurt.

Definitely the future

Confirmed by a senior leader.

It’s frustrating that they do not see how it’s impacting productivity of the entire workforce.

Reduce the workforce by 50% and let the other 50% do their job in peace. Right now , no one is doing their full potential because it’s always layoff axe on their necks.

Is it actually causing layoffs? Is it really being used productively anywhere? I'm not talking about CoPilot, but rather focused projects with a specific purpose. Would be interested in hearing from people involved with or affected by such endeavors, rather than the usual PR fluff that gets spewed by leadership.

I'm really not trying to rant here, I'm actually asking. Does anyone feel productive when they come in? My office days are pure chaos. People talking about sports, playing on their phone, solving puzzles together. Random coworkers keep stopping by my desk to chat. I spend half my energy just trying to tune it all out so I can do my job. At home I get ten times the work done. How is any of this helping us collaborate?

A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates AI will reshape jobs rather than eliminate them immediately. The report suggests AI will augment more roles than it replaces in the near term. White-collar occupations, including finance and technology, are most exposed to AI tools. This technology is expected to boost productivity without a proportional increase in hiring. However, long-term effects on employment and wages remain uncertain.

New York, NY

https://www.thestreet.com/employment/ai-wont-trigger-mass-layoffs-yet-fed-study-says

1. They’ve been delayed to add more names to the list.
2. But they’re ready to go now. Week of 4/27.
3. Leaders have been asked to provide team productivity data.
4. I heard 10% and 20%. Worst number was 40% (of PHK Tech, not Global), probably over several waves.

Every time I see stories about “coffee badging,” it’s hard not to feel frustrated. Some people are effectively gaming the system and collecting paychecks, while others are putting in real effort and trying to make a meaningful contribution.

FIRE THEM ALL!

No revelations yet, besides my expenses going up and feeling like they want to get rid of us. I haven't met new people, I haven't expanded collaboration beyond my usual circle (whom I communicate with online), and I most definitely haven't become more creative. I do focus less, and my productivity has fallen somewhat, so there's that.

(27 minute run time)

https://www.wsj.com/video/how-ibm-is-measuring-ais-real-impact-on-productivity/E30AB12D-6125-4C4C-AB92-050C534B46F2

By: Wall Street Journal |
March 26, 2026

Nickle LaMoreaux, chief human resources officer at IBM, discusses how the company is reimagining HR and the broader workforce through the lens of AI and experience-driven strategy.

Serious question .. what is the point of announcing layoffs being silent for months and tepeating this a few times a year so people are terrified all the time and productivity falls? I understand need to cut costs but the way we do it makes no sense

Verizon is currently conducting time and motion studies:

1. The Core Concept
   A "Time and Motion" study is a method used to determine the "standard time" it should take to complete a specific task.

Time Study: Measuring how long a technician takes to complete an install or repair (e.g., "30 minutes for a router setup").

Motion Study: Analyzing the steps or movements involved to find the most efficient way to do the work with the least amount of wasted effort.

1. Modern Application: Verizon Connect
   In 2026, Verizon doesn't just use stopwatches; they use AI-driven software. Their "Time and Motion" data is captured through:

GPS & Telematics: Tracking "dwell time" (how long a van is parked at a customer’s house) to see if the work matches the scheduled duration.

Planned vs. Actual (PVA) Reporting: Comparing how long a job should have taken versus how long it actually took.

Breadcrumb Trails: Seeing the physical route and movements of a technician to eliminate "dead miles" or inefficient routing.

1. Why Verizon Uses It
   Verizon uses this data for three main reasons:

Labor Standards: Setting realistic quotas for technicians so they aren't overworked, but also aren't idle.

Customer ETAs: Providing you with a "the tech will be there between 1:00 and 3:00" window based on real-time data of how long previous jobs are taking that day.

Cost Reduction: Identifying where time is being wasted—such as a technician having to return to the warehouse because they didn't have a specific part (a "motion" error).

1. Technician Perspective
   If you are a Verizon employee, "Time and Motion" is often the metric used to evaluate your productivity. It measures your "wrench time" (actual work) versus your travel time and breaks. High-performing techs are those whose "actual" times consistently align with the "standard" times determined by these studies.

If it can tell me how to stop anyone at or above p3 from scheduling a meeting to "discuss tomorrows meeting."

Tomorrows meeting by the way is billed as "brief introduction..."

Maybe we can get a Kindergarten teacher to come in and give their TED talk on "introduction best practices?"

I’m told I can’t have my phone out at my desk even if it’s just to pull it out and turn on music while I work.

Meanwhile, the people who sit in the next row over talk all day and it’s so distracting. I have no idea how to get anything done. And I have people from other areas walking over to them all day long as well and all these people talk about are their lunch plans and then complain about their peers at other sites.

I need to put my AirPods in and listen to something that helps me stay focused- the way I see it. I’ll get fired either way… either from pulling my phone out to turn on Spotify or because my work is not as productive as it used to be because of these geniuses that sit around me who have zero respect for others.

Is a reduction of workforce at Nike a bad thing? Revenue growth will come from productivity growth. More efficient teams. Motivated teams. AI. A reduction is not a bad if done right. And, to what I can see, 90% of the time, the right choices are being made.

Long-term projects are impossible to justify in this environment. Tons of Q4 work getting backlogged because the reorg is taking too long and we don't know if we'll have capacity to cover it.

Very positive article, as it's nearly proof-of-concept that we're one step closer to getting executives completely replaced by AI bots.

• IBM's Dave McCann is using an AI agent to prepare for client meetings.
• He said "Digital Dave" helps him save five hours a week by eliminating 30-minute prep calls.
• Companies from tiny startups to the biggest firms are building AI agents to take on routine work.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-agent-saving-ibm-consulting-leader-hours-every-week-2026-4

By: Tim Paradis |
Apr 9, 2026, 1:06 PM CT

Dave McCann oversees thousands of humans, and also an AI agent he named after himself: Digital Dave.

One of the most valuable things it does is conduct research, including on the company's customers. That's a big help for McCann, who, as a global managing partner for transformation at IBM Consulting, is responsible for thousands of clients, including Nestlé, Ericsson, and Riyadh Air.

The agent — it's actually a collection of AI agents and assistants — scans McCann's calendar for client meetings and drafts a list of 10 things he needs to know for each one. The goal, McCann told Business Insider, was to free up time he and his staff spent preparing for the meetings.

Under the old setup, people on his team would put together a briefing document with him and typically have a 30-minute prep call ahead of the client meeting.

"All that's now gone," said McCann, who is tasked with helping transform the global IBM Consulting business, which has nearly 150,000 employees.

He generally talks with about 10 clients a week, so the agent saves him roughly five hours of prep time, McCann said.

"All the time I used to invest in client prep, I can now see more clients," he said.

Freeing up the team

McCann's research agent, which he and his team began building this past fall, is based on a tool that a group at the company had started to develop as part of an annual internal competition.

The agent reviews in-house data, what IBM and the client are doing in the market, external data, and account details — such as project status and services sold and purchased, McCann said. It can also identify industry trends and client needs by, for example, reviewing a firm's annual report and identifying a corresponding service IBM could provide.

Digital Dave also saves McCann's team time, he said, because the three or four staffers who used to spend hours pulling together insights for the prep calls are now free to do other work.

"It's not just about driving efficiencies, but it's really about transforming how work gets done," McCann said.

The agent's research abilities aren't limited to client reports. McCann has also begun using it to help him assess the hundreds of IBM Consulting partners he evaluates each year. The goal, he said, is making informed decisions and giving the execs good advice about their strengths and weaknesses as part of their performance evaluation.

McCann said the data the agent reviews can include the services execs sold and the profits they generated, the training they provided, and the impact they had on their teams' development. Before the agent, he said, his approach involved perhaps a dozen spreadsheets culminating in "the worst pivot table of your life."

Now, McCann said, all of the data goes into a model, and he can ask pointed questions and make queries about top performers in a particular parameter.

'That multiplier effect'

One benefit of building agents, McCann said, is that IBMers who develop them can share them with others on their team or more broadly within the company, "so it immediately creates that multiplier effect."

Many of the people who report to him have created agents, he said. There's a healthy competition, McCann said, to engineer the most robust digital sidekicks, especially because workers can build off of what their colleagues created.

Across industries, companies are developing AI agents to take on knowledge work — especially tedious tasks — once handled by humans. From one-person startups to consulting giants, firms are using agents across functions such as HR, IT, finance, communications, and training.

Agents can handle a range of functions, including gathering information, processing paperwork, drafting communications, taking meeting minutes, and pulling research. It's still early, but these systems are quickly becoming a major focus of corporate AI efforts as companies look to turn generative AI into something that can actually take work off employees' plates.

One challenge McCann sees with clients and building agents is having access to data. IBM Consulting's most advanced clients — maybe a Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 company — might have given access to data to several hundred people, but not to 5,000 people in their finance division or 10,000 people in HR, McCann said. Concerns about security and how to manage the innovation can be roadblocks.

Until you unlock the data, individual workers might be able to get more done, but "you don't get that multiplier effect of the productivity," he said.

For McCann's work, Digital Dave means that he gets critical time back on his calendar.

"I can have much more focused attention out with our clients and with our humans while I have the operations of the business now being run more digitally," he said.

There’s an unspoken expectation to always appear busy, even when work is under control. You always need to show activity. Like they want us to be constantly stressed. Sadly, these days, productivity is all about perception rather than actual results. How low this place has fallen.

Training sessions are short and packed with information. There’s not enough time to actually absorb anything properly. Afterward, you’re expected to perform like you fully understand everything. Who thought this was a good idea?

Getting anything done across teams requires going through multiple people. Even simple requests turn into long chains of communication, and by the time something actually moves forward, the urgency is usually gone. Collaboration is way more complicated than it should be.

The tool sprawl here is ridiculous. There's so much overlap and no clear guidance on what to use when. It makes everything more complicated than it needs to be. I spend way too much time just figuring out where things live.