Back to FAQ
What Is Productivity Scoring Software?
Productivity scoring calculates a score from activity ratios and app usage — a useful trend indicator, not an absolute output quality judgment.
How Productivity Scoring Works
A productivity score is calculated from:
- Active vs idle time ratio — percentage of work session with active keyboard/mouse input
- Categorised app usage — time in apps/sites categorised as productive (e.g. IDE, CRM, email) vs distracting (e.g. social media, entertainment)
- Task completion — where task data is available, completion rate can be factored in
TheDeskMonitor's productivity scoring uses a configurable app categorisation library — you decide which apps are productive for your team's specific roles.
How to Use Productivity Scores
Good uses:
- Spotting a sudden drop in productivity for a usually high performer — may indicate burnout, personal issue, or need for support
- Comparing team averages over time to identify workflow bottlenecks
- Identifying which applications are consuming disproportionate work time
Poor uses:
- Ranking employees purely by score — a lawyer or strategic planner doing deep thinking work will score "low" while doing their highest-value work
- Using as the primary performance management metric — scores are an input to conversation, not a verdict