Headquartered in Chicago, IL, USA with Indian headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra; Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) has a market cap of 18 thousand crores INR. Allscripts is a leader in healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial and operational results. Their innovative solutions connect people, places and data across an Open, Connected Community of Health™.


Most organizations are trying to find a balance between two conflicting challenges. Peak operational efficiency and a highly productive workforce vs. rapid professional growth coupled with work-life balance for the employees. Achieving these goals is difficult in today’s environment of high work pressure, 24x7 work lifestyle and long commutes.

What are the underlying reasons for productivity loss and work stress?
Various studies conducted by productivity experts have identified multi-tasking and improper prioritization as the key reasons for reducing productivity. Today’s digital world means that we use multiple devices that keep us always ‘ON’ and connected. We get distracted due to repeated technology interruptions through various notifications. The net result is that we are very busy and stressed at the end of the day, without being very productive.

In software companies, most of the work happens on the computer. It is impossible to accurately assess the level and quality of the effort put in by the team. Hence, there is a tendency to equate productivity with time spent in the office. It is often a badge of honor to have spent late nights resolving project issues. Most managers tend to be reactive – getting into fire-fighting mode on projects that are in trouble. The best talents are called upon and because they work hard, assume that it must be the case with everyone. Therefore, it is difficult to know if the talent pool has been optimally assigned.

The typical approach to employee engagement is to conduct surveys and announce new HR policies. Productivity initiatives usually consist of process improvements or trying to get fancy certifications. In both cases, highly subjective and doubtful analysis is used to show improvements.

Getting the facts so we can act on them
Every change begins with measurement and a plan, and people need feedback and guidance to be motivated and stay on course. We came across a unique People Analytics solution called Sapience, which automatically measures the exact work effort at individual level. For users, it holds up a mirror to their work using “Work Yoga” and encourages them to make small improvements in work habits that have a big impact on their work effectiveness. It also provides insightful analytics to the organization at various levels.

Using this tool, we found:
• Though time in office was reasonable, the time on productive work was 1 to 2 hours less than expected. It was clear that most of them could get more work done if they worked smart.
• The Top 20 percent of the staff was very efficient. Despite working for the same number of hours, they were putting in 1.5 to 2 hours of more productive work time compared to the Last 20 percent .
• Time on emails and meetings was about 40 percent of the productive work time, even at junior levels. This meant that the time available for core activities was much lower than expected.

Learning how to work better
These surprising findings were shared and discussed openly at all levels, and we took a few simple steps that had a big impact.
• Emphasized output and reasonable time on productive work, and de-emphasize time in the office. If someone is in office from 9-6, puts in 7+ hours of productive work and delivers high output, that’s the right way to work.
• Teams reserve 2 hours for focused work (‘Golden Hours’). Phones are muted, email and chat popup are disabled, people do not disturb each other, and meetings are not scheduled.
• Daily focused standup meetings are encouraged, instead of long winding weekly status reviews.
• New headcount or backfills are approved only if the utilization of the team is reasonable. We could resolve the same number of cases with 80 percent strength after moving resources across the teams.
• We had a flat “On-call” allowance for working at night and on weekends, as there was no way of knowing how much the real work was. That was unfair to those that had to spend long hours working on client issues. By using data from the tool, we incentivized those that actually worked longer while “On-call”. Similar concept allowed “Work from Home” during exigencies.

As a result, we saw an increase of 1 productive hour per person per day on average, higher percent of time on core activities, and reduced gap between Top 20% and the others. Despite these gains, time in office has not significantly changed on average, which ensures adequate time with family and friends.