Marketing and PR professionals among the best for productivity with higher than average ‘time on task’
Research from the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, which analysed responses from some 30,000 professionals, reveals significant 
The Institute measured components of Happiness at Work including energy levels, time engaged and feelings of happiness. Productivity was measured as ‘time on task’; the time that workers are actively producing outputs that make a tangible contribution to their organisation.
The international average for time on task is 58.8%, but there are significant differences between the various industry sectors. The Marketing and PR sector is one the best performing sectors with 60.9% time on task. At the bottom of the table is the Biotechnology sector with 53.2%.
Even greater differences are shown when comparing the different countries surveyed. Mexico is shown to have the highest productivity (73.2% of time on task), while Portugal has the lowest (43.3%).
Within both sets of data, the sectors and countries that show the highest levels of productivity also perform strongly in the measurements of Happiness at Work.
Jessica Pryce-Jones, founder director of the iOpener Institute and author of ‘Happiness at Work – Maximising Your Psychological Capital for Success’, notes: “While broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity have been recognised for some time, this detailed method of analyzing the components of Happiness at Work offers organisations actionable insights to formulate practical plans to improve their productivity.
“The sector and country results offer companies a contextual starting point; those in the Retail sector can ascertain how they measure up when compared to their sector and country averages and tailor their productivity initiatives accordingly. While the Marketing and PR sector can take encouragement from scoring highly, there is still potential for improvement in these industry sectors with businesses placing greater emphasis in 2014 on marketing’s contribution to business strategy. Meanwhile, the PR industry continues to undergo significant growth which places increased pressures on employee infrastructure.”
The report may be downloaded by visiting this link.