What is 70 percent rule for productivity? | Definition from TechTarget (2024)

The 70 percent rule, in a business context, is a time management principle suggesting that people should withhold a significant amount of their working capacity for better productivity, engagement and work-life balance.

According to the 70 percent rule, employees are most productive not when they are working as hard as they can from day to day but when they work, most of the time, at a less intense pace. In this way, when demands are increased temporarily, they have some capacity to respond, whereas the employee working full-out is incapable of producing any more.

Such situations can lead to stress and eventually to burnout, which in turn can lead to poor performance, absenteeism and sometimes quitting or job loss. For the employer, that means less productivity, increased costs and higher job turnover.

Best practices for incorporating the 70 percent rule include taking vacations and mini-breaks, leaving some of the day unscheduled and learning to refuse unreasonable work demands.

In this TED talk, Stefan Sagmeister discusses the power of time off:

This was last updated in January 2015

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What is 70 percent rule for productivity? | Definition from TechTarget (2024)

FAQs

What is 70 percent rule for productivity? | Definition from TechTarget? ›

According to the 70 percent rule, employees are most productive not when they are working as hard as they can from day to day but when they work, most of the time, at a less intense pace.

What is the 70% rule of productivity? ›

The 70 percent rule suggests working at around 70% of my maximum capacity, leaving room for increased demands and unexpected challenges. By reserving this extra capacity, I can handle temporary workload spikes without burning out or compromising my work-life balance.

What is the 70 30 productivity rule? ›

The 70-30 Principle is about defaulting to action but leaving 30 percent for space to optimize the things you do. This is actually a lesson that hit me really hard a few months ago. Despite being aware of the positive impact of decluttering physical and other things in my life, it still found a way to sneak up on me.

What is an acceptable productivity rate? ›

The 70 percent productivity rule

So, in the business context, the 70 percent rule applies, suggesting that is the optimal productivity rate for employees.

What is the formula for employee productivity? ›

Simply divide the number of goods or services produced by the total number of hours worked during a set period. For instance, let's say it took 1,500 hours of labor for your workforce to produce 15,000 units last quarter. In this example, the calculation would be 15,000/1,500 = 10 units per hour.

How do you calculate a 70% rule? ›

When buying a home to flip, investors need to estimate how much they believe the property could sell for after it's been renovated. They can then multiply that amount by 70% and subtract it from the estimated cost of renovating the property.

What are examples of rule of 70? ›

Examples of How to Use the Rule of 70
  • At a 3% growth rate, a portfolio will double in 23.33 years because 70/3 = 23.33.
  • At an 8% growth rate, a portfolio will double in 8.75 years because 70/8 = 8.75.
  • At a 12% growth rate, a portfolio will double in 5.8 years because 70/12 = 5.8.

What is the 80 20 rule in work productivity? ›

Simply put, the 80/20 rule states that the relationship between input and output is rarely, if ever, balanced. When applied to work, it means that approximately 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results.

What is the 70 rule in time management? ›

The 70 percent rule, in a business context, is a time management principle suggesting that people should withhold a significant amount of their working capacity for better productivity, engagement and work-life balance.

What is the 333 rule for productivity? ›

At its core, the 3-3-3 method is elegantly straightforward: allocate three essential tasks each morning, three more for the afternoon, and finally, leave room for three additional tasks to tackle at your own discretion.

What is the 3 by 3 rule for productivity? ›

The 3/3/3 method is a time management technique introduced by Oliver Burkeman, author of "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals." The method involves spending three hours on the most important current project, three hours on smaller tasks, and three hours on maintenance activities every normal working day[1 ...

What is KPI productivity rate? ›

Employee productivity rate

Tracking this KPI helps you identify high-performing employees and see who may need more training. To calculate employee productivity rate, divide your output — usually the number of goods or services produced — by the total number of employees generating it.

What is the current US productivity rate? ›

US Productivity (I:USP)

US Productivity is at 0.30%, compared to 3.50% last quarter and -0.30% last year. This is lower than the long term average of 2.17%. US Productivity measures the quarter over quarter percent change of labor productivity, measured as output per hour worked, of non-farm business employees.

How to calculate technician productivity? ›

When the figures are known, the calculation is simple; Productivity % = Hours Charged / Hours Clocked x 100. Example: Technician charged out 36hrs, but has worked 40hrs. Hours Charged =36.

How to figure out productivity percentage? ›

For our standard labor model, we'll divide the labor hours projected by the total time worked. That'll give you something with a decimal, so we multiply it by 100 to get a percentage for our efficiency score. That gives us the full productivity formula.

What is the employee productivity rate? ›

The employee productivity rate, often referred to as EPR, is, unsurprisingly, an HR metric used to assess the level of productivity of an organization's workforce over a given time period. This, amongst other employee performance metrics, are key to tracking and managing how well employees are performing their jobs.

What is the rule of 70 in simple terms? ›

The rule of 70 is used to determine the number of years it takes for a variable to double by dividing the number 70 by the variable's growth rate. The rule of 70 is generally used to determine how long it would take for an investment to double given the annual rate of return.

What is the golden rule of productivity? ›

A recent experiment conducted by the Draugiem Group using the time tracking app DeskTime shows that the golden ratio of work to rest is 52:17. So that is 52 minutes of intense work followed by 17 minutes of rest and recuperation is the perfect combination for maximising productivity.

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