What is time to productivity

Time to productivity refers to the time it takes for a new hire to reach a level of competency and proficiency that allows them to contribute effectively to their role within an organization.

It’s the period from the employee’s start date until they become fully productive, independent, and capable of delivering their expected results and meeting job performance standards.

HR teams use this metric to evaluate the effectiveness of their onboarding and training processes and to measure how quickly new hires can integrate into the company’s workflow and culture.

A shorter time to productivity indicates a more efficient onboarding process. It can lead to improved employee engagement and organizational performance.

What factors affect time to productivity?

The quality and comprehensiveness of training and onboarding significantly impact how quickly employees can adapt to their new roles.

However, time to productivity doesn’t only depend on the onboarding process. There are several factors that can affect how fast your new hire will become fully productive. Here are some of them:

• The complexity of the role: If a new hire starts a complex job requiring intensive training, they will likely take longer to become productive. They must also become familiar with your processes and tools to add value faster
• Cultural and language differences: In global workforces, differences in culture and language can influence how well employees adapt to new roles and processes
• Technology and tools: Adequate access to necessary technology and tools can expedite the learning process and enhance productivity
• Trust and communication among team members: If the new hire feels welcome in their team and can ask their peers for help when needed, they will adapt and become productive faster
• Clarity of tasks, expectations, and goals: When team members understand their roles, responsibilities, and project goals clearly, they can work more efficiently towards achieving them
• The size of the organization: Larger companies often have more complex roles and systems, which can take longer for new employees to understand and become fully proficient. Conversely, smaller companies may have more straightforward roles and systems, allowing new employees to reach total productivity faster
• Leadership and management: Effective leadership and management are crucial for remote teams, as their job is to provide clear guidance, set achievable goals, and support their team members in navigating challenges
• Remote work readiness: Remote work may present unique challenges such as limited access to mentors, communication barriers, and difficulty in integrating with the team, all of which can affect time to productivity

Why does time to productivity matter for HR teams?

Measuring time to productivity helps HR teams understand whether their recruiting and onboarding efforts set new employees up for success from the moment they join the company. Streamlining the onboarding process enables new hires to reach their full productivity potential as soon as possible. When HR specialists have insight into time to productivity, they can:

• Allocate resources more efficiently by identifying areas that need improvement in the onboarding process
• Improve employee retention by proactively addressing issues caused by an extended time to productivity, such as employee dissatisfaction and increased turnover
• Reduce the time to productivity for a faster time-to-market, increased customer satisfaction, and improved overall business outcomes

How can organizations calculate new hire time to productivity?

Defining what “full productivity” means for an organization is the best place to start. Here are some factors to consider:

• Reaching a specific goal
• Completing training
• Meeting certain performance targets

Method #1: If you use reaching specific goals to indicate productivity, set clear role-related KPIs.

For example:

• For a content writer, a goal can be publishing their first article
• For a product manager, you can consider them productive after launching their first feature
• For accountants, you can consider them fully productive when they reach a specific cost per invoice or error resolution time

Once you’ve defined the meaning of “full productivity,” it’s time to start tracking. Track the start date of each new hire and the date they reach total productivity.

To calculate the time to productivity:

• Subtract the start date from the date of full productivity to get the number of days it took for each new hire to reach total productivity
• Average the number of days for all new hires to get the average time to productivity for your organization
• Compare this average with industry standards and set goals for improvement if necessary

Method #2: Consider billable vs. learning hours. Knowing how much time an employee spends learning the ropes and how well they invest that knowledge in each task/assignment helps you measure their time to productivity.

What are examples of time-to-productivity metrics?

Time-to-productivity metrics measure how quickly new employees reach full productivity in their roles. These metrics help organizations understand the effectiveness of their onboarding and training processes and how quickly employees can contribute effectively. Here are some common time-to-productivity metrics:

• Time to competency: The duration required for a new employee to reach a defined level of competency or skill in their new role
• Ramp-up time: The duration from an employee’s start date to when they achieve full productivity—this is often calculated by comparing the employee’s performance metrics (such as sales figures, project completions, or customer satisfaction scores) to those of fully trained employees
• Time to autonomy: The period required for a new hire to work independently without significant supervision or assistance—this metric indicates how quickly employees become self-sufficient in their roles
• Time to the first milestone: Tracks the time it takes for a new employee to achieve their first significant work milestone, such as completing their first project, making their first sale, or closing their first deal—this metric indicates how quickly an employee is getting up to speed
• Time to onboarding completion: The time from the new hire’s start date to the completion of the formal onboarding process

How can organizations track time to productivity?

HR teams must gather qualitative and quantitative data on the time it takes for employees to become fully productive through:

• Employee surveys
• Manager feedback
• Performance evaluations

Analyzing the onboarding process for new hires can help identify potential bottlenecks and areas that require improvement. The first step is to establish KPIs and benchmarks related to productivity, such as project milestones or sales targets, which can help monitor an employee’s progress and contribution to the company’s goals. For example, you can determine the number of particular tasks a new hire in the finance team should be able to complete within their first month or the average response time for a new customer service representative.

Complimentary resource: The Best Employee Onboarding Survey Questions to Ask Your New Hires

How long does it take an employee to be fully productive?

According to a Gallup report, a new employee takes around 12 months to become fully productive in their new role.

However, not all industries are the same. Some industries and roles may have longer ramp-up times, while others may have a shorter adjustment period.

Here are some examples to illustrate this:

Technology and software development

In tech roles, such as software development, it may take a new hire anywhere from six to twelve months to become fully productive. This period includes learning the codebase, understanding internal tools and processes, and integrating into project teams. Complex projects or highly specialized technologies may push this timeframe toward the longer end.

Sales roles

Sales roles often require a ramp-up period of about six months. New sales employees must build a pipeline, understand the product, develop client relationships, and become proficient in the company’s sales processes. However, this period could extend up to nine months in industries with complex sales cycles, such as enterprise software sales.

Customer service

The ramp-up time for customer service roles might be shorter, around three to six months. New hires need to become familiar with the company’s products, services, and customer management systems. However, for roles dealing with complex products or services, employees may take up to nine months to achieve full productivity.

Financial services

In financial services, particularly in investment banking or complex financial analysis, employees may take up to nine months to reach full productivity. They need time to understand the company’s financial systems, client portfolios, and regulatory requirements.

These examples illustrate how the time to full productivity can vary widely based on industry, role complexity, and specific organizational demands. Companies must set realistic expectations and provide the necessary support during the onboarding and training periods to help new employees reach their full potential.

Reduce time to productivity in your team with Deel Engage

As an HR leader, you aim to help new employees settle in as fast as possible. HR automation tools such as Deel Engage will help you automate manual tasks and help both managers and new hires use their time efficiently:

• Create onboarding workflows and auto-assign tasks based on department or location and reduce manual workload
• Create extensive documentation, placing all policies, product training videos, internal processes, and more into learning journeys all employees can access
• Pair new employees with experienced mentors or buddies who can help them navigate challenges and integrate into the team more effectively, even in remote settings
• Provide timely feedback and organize probation and performance review cycles to enable employees to understand their progress and make necessary improvements
• Promote cultural sensitivity and inclusion within your team with DEIB training
• Offer ongoing upskilling and professional development opportunities to help employees plan out their career paths, stay relevant and perform optimally Deel HR is a global-first HRIS that enables you to hire compliantly from 150+ countries, pay and manage direct employees, international workers, and contractors under one roof from a single, user-friendly platform.

“Thanks to Deel Engage, our new hires reach full productivity in just two months, reducing the time to productivity by 50%.”—Matea Ćurić, Senior People Partner, DataGuard

Request a demo to find out how to streamline onboarding and facilitate new hire integration with Deel.