If you’re an HR professional, you know it’s painful to see a new hire fall flat or disappear faster than a slice of cake at an office birthday party. If you’re tired of this endless cycle of hiring and firing, measuring and improving your quality of hire (QOH) is the solution.

Quality of hire is a crucial metric demonstrating the value of every joiner’s contribution to the company’s overarching goals. The problem? Putting a numerical value on a new hire’s performance is easier said than done.

This guide walks through how to measure quality of hire using proven HR metrics like new hire attrition, employee engagement, and hiring manager satisfaction — and how to improve them using a skills-first, data-driven approach to make consistently better hires.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Quality of hire is a vital hiring metric that reflects a new employee’s value to the organization.
• Measuring and improving QOH helps hiring teams avoid the costs of a bad hire, attract top talent in a competitive market, and boost employee engagement and productivity.
• There’s no easy way to measure quality of hire. Instead, consider which recruiting metrics are most important to your team or organization and prioritize those to improve new hire success.
• Relying on a data-driven hiring process, gathering candidate feedback, and implementing a skills-based hiring process are all simple ways to improve your quality of hire metric.

What is quality of hire?

Quality of hire is a hiring metric that reflects the value a new employee brings to an organization. It encompasses the pre-hire and post-hire experience as a comprehensive way to measure how successful they’re likely to be in their role.

💥 Pre-hire quality checkers include assessment scores, work samples, and structured interviews

💥 Post-hire quality measures include time to proficiency, time to productivity, and performance metrics, such as goal achievement, project impact, or manager ratings in performance reviews.

By establishing a baseline for each quality of hire measure, you can check which factors correlate with your most successful hires to predict quality and achieve hiring success.

How to measure quality of hire

While quality of hire is a key recruiting metric, you measure it using other HR metrics. There’s no unique formula to measure quality of hire, which is why it’s often so difficult for teams to track and improve.

Generally, there is no one-size-fits-all metric for quality of hire because it depends on what your priority is. Common quality-of-hire metrics include turnover rates, job performance, employee engagement, and cultural fit measured by 360 ratings.

Ji-A Min, Research Analyst at Ideal Candidate

The bottom line is that how you calculate your overall quality of hire score depends on your needs, internal processes, and preferred outcome.

Here are eight of the most common ways — all are great starting points for measuring this metric, but you can adapt and customize the way you measure QoH depending on your organization’s needs.

Use one or more of the following:

1. End of probation

Most new hires are expected to showcase what they can offer a company within a specific period. Typically, the period to reach full productivity is three months from their start date (or 90 days), which is just long enough to evaluate the hires’ on-the-job performance and decide whether to continue employment, extend the probation period, or terminate the contract.

2. Ramp-up time for new hires

Ramp-up time refers to how long it takes new hires to reach their full potential within the organization. This will likely differ according to the department and company. In some cases, it can take up to 90 days for a new hire to reach full autonomy, or much shorter for entry-level roles.

Here are a few ways to measure ramp-up time:

☝️ Observe and take notes during the first few weeks on the job. Precise? Definitely. But it’s also pretty time-consuming.

✌️ Ask hiring managers how the new hire is doing after 30, 60, and 90 days. This is less precise but still provides valuable data for the process.

3. Acceptable productivity

This is a variation of the ramp-up time metric. It measures how long until a new hire is productive enough to work independently without assistance.

The main difference is that this metric looks at overall productivity, not just how fast someone reaches their full potential. Measure this hire score using the same methods as for ramp-up time.

We spoke to Steve O’Halloran, Talent Acquisition Lead at Embeddable, who stresses the importance of being consistent with your KPI strategies. He warns:

“A crucial and often overlooked aspect is that the criteria you use to evaluate candidates in the interview process must be tightly linked to how you evaluate their performance once they’re through the door. Hiring someone for ABC, then evaluating them against DEF once they start the job, sets nobody up for success. Hiring teams getting this right from the start will save a lot of heartache down the road.”

4. Hiring manager satisfaction rating

Hiring manager satisfaction is a vital recruitment metric that measures how satisfied the hiring manager is with the company’s hiring process and new employees. As hiring managers aren’t part of the HR department (in most cases), they can provide valuable insight into how effective the recruitment process is.

Taken a few months after the new hire starts, hiring manager satisfaction surveys optimize the recruiting process and create a better quality of hire. Crucially, they differ from candidate satisfaction, which looks at jobseekers’ experience of your talent acquisition process.

5. Job performance reviews

Performance reviews offer a formal approach to measuring quality of hire and understanding how well a new hire is doing. Usually, a hiring manager conducts these reviews and includes a score on a scale (1-5, for example) to assist in measuring quality.

For a more accurate and well-rounded performance review, incorporate 360-degree feedback from a variety of sources, such as peers, managers, direct reports, self-evaluations, and other relevant stakeholders. You’ll gain a wide range of perspectives, spot trends, and eliminate any bias.

6. Promotions

Promotions are a lagging indicator but a valuable way to measure the quality of hire. Promotion rate and promotion frequency are standard quality of hire metrics, calculated by tracking how many new hires are promoted within their first year and how often they are promoted since joining the company.

It’s a no-brainer. Quality candidates will get promoted more often and more quickly, which means that their overall quality of hire is superb.

7. Culture fit

Culture fit is notoriously hard to measure as a qualitative metric, because, company cultures are equally as hard to define. But this is still an important area of focus, as bad culture fit can significantly impact your cost per hire. Consider the following questions as part of your evaluation process:

• Does the hire uphold and adhere to the company values?
• Are they a good representation of the organization?
• Do they contribute positively to team dynamics and collaboration?

Since these are inherently subjective, the best way to gather meaningful insights is to ask the people who work with the new hire day-to-day. Send a short survey to their team and manager a few months after the start date to gauge how well they’ve integrated.

8. Employee turnover and retention rate

Turnover and retention rates show whether your new hires stick around long enough to make a meaningful impact. Start by tracking first-year turnover, or simply how many hires leave the company within the first 12 months. A high rate signals deeper issues with onboarding or role expectations.

Through a more positive lens, new hire retention rates explore how many new employees are still with the company after their first year. Both metrics highlight patterns, like certain roles, departments, or hiring managers with consistently stronger or weaker outcomes.

How to improve your quality of hire

Improving something that’s extremely difficult to measure might sound like Mission: Impossible. But once you define what quality means for your team and set clear benchmarks, it’s actually very doable.

Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to build a hiring process that consistently brings in top performers, then sets them up for success. Here’s how to make that happen:

1. Define what quality of hire means for your company’s long-term success

The first step in improving the quality of hire is to sit down with your team and define what a successful hire looks like.

• What skills and experience are required?
• What are the key indicators of success?
• What qualities or traits allow someone to thrive within your team and organization?

With a clear definition, you can start measuring and improving the quality of hire.

2. Rely on a data-driven hiring process

Improving quality of hire means relying less on gut instinct — and more on real data. That includes assessment results, hiring manager feedback, candidate performance, and retention insights.

A platform like Toggl Hire helps you stay on top of the data throughout the entire hiring process. You can set pass thresholds to automatically filter out unqualified applicants, track how different hiring steps are performing, and spot patterns that lead to better hires over time.

Toggl’s insights dashboard turns raw candidate data into clear, actionable takeaways — helping your team work faster and smarter, without losing sight of what matters: hiring great people who stay and succeed.

3. Align the hiring team with the right requirements

Are your hiring managers aligned with the requirements of the role? If not, you run the risk of hiring someone who’s not a good fit for the team. This can lead to a high turnover rate and a drop in productivity.

To avoid this kind of miscommunication or misalignment, create a candidate scorecard that includes factors such as:

• Hard and soft skills
• The level of knowledge the candidate needs
• How long they’ve worked in specific or adjacent roles

Instead of relying on resumes or LinkedIn profiles, scorecards objectively measure the quality of candidates during the interview process and prevent the hiring team from acting on impulse or being influenced by their unconscious bias.

4. Use skills assessments to increase recruiter productivity

Resumes and interviews can only tell you so much. Without clear evidence of ability, recruiting teams spend too much time chasing the wrong candidates — and that slows everything down.

Skills assessments streamline the hiring process and improve recruiter productivity by showing you exactly who can do the job. Whether using pre-built tests or customizing your own, competency skills assessments give you instant clarity on candidate strengths and gaps long before the interview stage.

With Toggl Hire, for example, you can test candidates early in the funnel and get data-backed insights on who can actually do the job. With a rich test library filled with customizable tests, you can make faster, more confident hiring decisions — and reduce the risk of a bad hire.

5. Improve the onboarding experience for new hires

Let’s be honest: candidates talk to each other, and a sloppy onboarding process can have a major impact on your employer brand and other key metrics like employee retention and attrition.

To improve your onboarding experience, assess whether candidates:

• Understand your organization’s core goals and missions
• Understand the principles of how the organization works
• Receive hardware and system access promptly
• Feel welcomed by the team and their manager

Regardless of your current process or how you improve it, the goal is to help new hires adjust to their new environment and get up to speed quickly.

6. Gather feedback from former employees to improve your process

Former employees and candidates offer valuable insights into which aspects of your hiring process are working and which aren’t.

In fact, when tracking feedback from former employees, exit interviews are a must-have for any growing company. They offer valuable insight into why employees leave (and how to keep future top performers around longer).

Why is quality of hire important?

Tracking and improving quality of hire takes time, coordination, and consistent effort — but the return is undeniable. When you get it right, it directly impacts the long-term success of your business. Here’s why it’s worth prioritizing:

• Improved productivity: High-quality hires ramp up quickly and start contributing value from day one, which improves overall team efficiency.
• Lower turnover risk: When people are a great fit, they stay longer. That means fewer replacements, a lower cost per hire, and less disruption.
• Better company culture: Employees who align well with the company’s values and culture positively influence morale, teamwork, and organizational cohesiveness.
• Improved innovation: High-quality hires bring valuable skills, creativity, and fresh perspectives, fostering innovation and growth.
• Boosted employee engagement survey scores: Top talent contributes to stronger team dynamics and morale, which can lead to measurable improvements in engagement scores over time.
• Stronger employer brand: Consistently hiring the right candidates boosts your company’s reputation, attracting more top-tier talent over time.
• Cost savings: Better hires lead to fewer hiring mistakes, reducing costs associated with poor performance, rehiring, training, and lost productivity.
• Higher customer satisfaction: Quality employees deliver better services and products, leading to happier customers and improved loyalty.

Final thoughts on improving the quality of hire

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, so arming yourself with the right hiring metrics is job one as a hiring manager. Investing in a good process will improve the quality of your team and lower your turnover rate. So, everybody wins.

Follow the steps and tips above to create a process that works for your business — one that sources and retains the best of the best. If you want to create better job descriptions, hire for the right skills, and attract better candidates, try a full-cycle recruitment software built for skills-first hiring. That’s right, we’re talking about Toggl Hire.

Create your free account to test the right skills, improve your time to hire, and offer a great candidate experience.

Your employees are your greatest asset, but are they also your biggest expense? In industries like investment banking, engineering, and healthcare, labor costs can hit $100 billion per year. Yet, companies in these fields also report some of the highest profit margins. 

The secret? Maximizing your revenue per employee (RPE) rate. This important metric tracks how much yield each employee generates for your business and determines the effectiveness of your revenue generation relative to your workforce size, which is key for long-term, sustainable growth.

This guide reveals more about employee profitability. You’ll learn how to calculate your RPE with a simple formula (and several handy data collection and analytics techniques) to find new paths to profitability. 

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• RPE helps companies spot productivity gaps, process inefficiencies, resource allocation issues, and other blockers undermining revenue growth. You can justify labor costs by revenue and grow profit margins through operating model optimizations.
• Average revenue per employee depends on the company’s industry and years in operation — these factors are hard to change, but serve as a good benchmark. To maximize your RPE, focus on improving your operating efficiencies and employee performance.
• If you don’t know your RPE, you risk hiring for roles that don’t drive profitability while understaffing those that do. You may also choose the wrong performance management approaches, penalizing people for factors beyond their control, like poor workflow design or legacy software.
• The easiest way to track revenue by employee is to use time tracking data as a proxy (instead of just annual revenue and headcount). Continuous analysis with tools like Toggl Track can detect and debug process inefficiencies faster.

The importance of revenue per employee (and how to calculate it)

RPE is a strong indicator of your company’s efficiency. A low average revenue per employee means issues with your resource allocation, cost management, or pricing model. A healthier number means your operating model is in tip-top shape. 

The formula isn’t perfect because it doesn’t factor in other business costs, such as marketing, IT infrastructure, or equipment costs. It can also give skewed results if you have high employee turnover or rely on an external workforce, including freelancers or agency partners. 

Still, it’s a good proxy for measuring employee productivity and overall operating efficiency. If your workforce has grown significantly, but your RPE has remained stagnant or declined, it’s a sign that inefficiencies or misaligned resources may be dragging down your profitability. 

By tracking your RPE, you can diagnose these efficiency issues sooner (like suboptimal workload distribution, bloated org chart, and redundant business processes) and use that data to optimize your profit margins. 

Factors that influence employee profitability

Several factors influence an employee’s revenue generation, from external market conditions to internal processes. Some factors, like industry trends, company age, or economic conditions, will be beyond your control. However, you can optimize your internal processes, work environment, and employee performance — three critical levers that can significantly impact RPE.  

Industry

NYU Stern University runs a revenue per employee benchmark for US companies:

Industry name	Average annual revenue per employee
Advertising	$47,996.17
Apparel	$127.18
Regional banks	$356,647.75
Healthcare and support services	$184,232.63
Food and grocery retail	$16,046.42
Semiconductors	$204,829.80
Software (internet)	$124,606.07
Trucking	$24,528.77
Total market average	$104,029.79

The numbers are all over the spectrum because of the differences in business models and workforce capabilities. 

Finance services providers and technology companies have higher RPE because they can generate more revenue with fewer employees, thanks to an asset-light business model, smarter product distribution, and greater automation. 

For example, Mastercard has an impressive $843,323 RPE because it built a scalable payment network for processing billions of transactions per year (and pocketing the interchange fees), while also using advanced automation and cloud infrastructure to scale operations without increasing headcount.

Apple has a $2.4 million RPE — the highest among Big Tech companies. Its ‘recipe for success’ combines premium pricing, an optimized global supply chain, and ample service revenues with minimal labor costs compared to hardware manufacturing.

In contrast, manufacturing companies often have modest performance indicators. Many depend on large physical footprints, including multiple retail locations, warehouses, transportation, and production facilities, each requiring high staff headcounts to keep the lights on. 

Company age

RPE typically correlates with the stages of a company’s life cycle. Early-stage companies often incur high costs because they need to quickly capture market share and acquire new customers. Customer acquisition costs (CAC) range from $787 to $3,665 for tech startups and $127 to $377 for online marketplaces.

They also spend more on recruiting new employees (cue higher hiring costs), expanding facilities (for physical operations), or developing new service offerings.

Timeline	Annual recurring revenue per employee	Good	Great
First 12-48 months	Less than $1 million	$70k	$100k+
2-3 years	$1-$5 million	$120K	$185k+
3+ years	$5-$20 million	$150K	$215k+
5+ years	$20-$50 million	$175K	$245k+

Mature companies benefit from recurring revenue from customer retention, brand loyalty, or a subscription model. They also have more optimized workflows and a greater degree of automation, which drives higher profitability with relatively stable workforce growth.

But they may also see a reduction in revenue per employee ratio. Product competitiveness may change, leading to lower sales volumes, while manufacturing costs may increase due to inefficiencies or supply chain disruptions. For tech companies, legacy software can become a nuisance for operating efficiencies and productivity growth.

Employee engagement and morale

Disengaged employees are less productive. They’re more likely to show signs of absenteeism or ‘quiet quit’ when they complete the bare minimum expected of them. Unsurprisingly, employees who aren’t shooting for the stars produce lower revenue. But on the flip side, engaged teams outperform on several financial metrics.

Better recognition of employee contributions, a greater focus on work-life balance, and smarter workforce management are the first steps to improving employee productivity (and with it, your revenue per employee ratio). 

Access to the right tools (Operating efficiency) 

Small businesses that work smarter, not harder, outperform those with a bigger but less efficient workforce.  

OnlyFans has 42 full-time employees but generates 13x to 28x the RPE of other Big Tech companies. While their saucy industry 🌶️ is a factor, they’ve also developed massive brand awareness through influencer marketing and a lean product development lifecycle.

A huge part of OnlyFans’ success was the team’s ability to quickly develop and test product features and scale infrastructure to accommodate traffic spikes. Instead of increasing its number of full-time employees, OnlyFans asked contractors to help during peak growth stages.

While technology was key to the growth of OnlyFans, it’s the cause of major bottlenecks in other companies. Gartner reports that 47% of digital workers struggle to locate the information they need to perform effectively in their jobs. Meanwhile, 32% of middle managers in New Jersey firms name ‘inefficient processes’ as the biggest time-wasters.

Time analytics tools like Toggl Track reveal inefficiencies that chip away at your revenue. You can identify manual, time-consuming processes, remove redundant tasks, ditch unproductive routines, and direct your people’s focus toward revenue-contributing goals.

The dangers of not knowing your RPE

Warning: Ignoring revenue per employee could send your business waaaaay off course. This powerful metric ties workforce productivity directly to your bottom line. Overlook it and you might end up overhiring or bleeding profits before you realize it. 

Let’s say Company A generated $500K in revenue last year. Its people seemed busy (according to timesheets), so the CEO hired two more designers. But because the company took more time-consuming projects without adjusting billing rates, its revenue decreased to $300K and RPE to $20K.

Company B also made $500K last year — how about that for coincidence? They hired a new software developer to implement RPA tools (spending more on licenses). But the new system improved sales deal flow, allowing the sales team to close accounts faster — and accountants to service clients better. The company’s revenue rose to $800K and RPE to $80K.

Not knowing your revenue per employee (RPE) leaves you vulnerable to:

• Resource waste: You may overhire for low-revenue roles while understaffing profitable projects.
• Misaligned priorities: People unknowingly focus on tasks that drain profitability, slowing your revenue growth. 
• Hidden underperformance: Low productivity can lurk beneath the surface, masked by busy work. Without proven data, it’s hard to determine the trigger — perhaps process inefficiency, lack of skills, or dwindling employee motivation. 

The above eventually leads to poor scalability, shrinking profit margins, and rising employee turnover rates as high performers grow frustrated by the internal chaos.

How to track revenue per employee (and improve it)

Revenue per employee is a proxy number for employee efficiency, which is a combination of high personal effectiveness, good project management, and optimized workflows. 

To track RPE, you need detailed data on:

• Employee time 
• Workload allocation 
• Outputs towards revenue 

Toggl Track gives you visibility into all these metrics (and more) through pre-made and custom analytics views. From here, you can use the collected data to figure out the best approach to optimizing your RPE. Here’s what worked for us and our users: 

1. Start by tracking accurate time data

Financial statements and annual reports deliver insights on your revenue growth, net income, and profit margin. But accounting docs don’t exactly tell how productive different activities are — time tracking data does. 

Time tracking data shows where your people’s focus lingers and how much valuable output an average employee produces. For example, if your salespeople spend hours on manual client prospecting and lead qualification instead of nurturing or closing deals, you’re leaving money on the table. Similarly, if your engineers are stuck in unnecessary meetings or constantly blocked by delays on the design side, you’ve got to work on better cross-functional collaboration. 

With Toggl Track, you can track billable vs non-billable hours, monitor project task progression, and predict delays on actual employee data.

This data identifies process bottlenecks, optimizes resource allocation, streamlines client billing, and better tracks profitability across specific projects to understand exactly how employees contribute to different revenue streams.

2. Analyze profitability using Toggl Track’s Analytics

When you know where your time and money is going, you can better predict your revenue. 

With Toggl Analytics, you can easily calculate costs and profits for every type of project through logged billable hours, employee activities, and expenses. You can model future profitability trends with budget forecasting, estimated vs. actual, and income vs. expense reports.

PR agency Sweat+Co juggles a lot of clients and projects. But they had no idea how much time and resources different tasks take…until Toggl Track. After implementing our tool to record billable hours, Sweat+Co was surprised by its volume of non-billable work. This revelation brought change to workflow management and project scope control.

Toggl Track increased our profitability by at least 20%. We found out where the team was spending too much time. Whether that was us being inefficient or over-serving or working too slowly, Toggl Track gave us the ability to restrategize, find out what’s wrong, and fix it.

Dax Kimbrough, Business Consultant, Sweat+Co

3. Highlight inefficiencies and make adjustments

Time tracking data reveals why work friction and resource waste happen. You may be allocating too many resources to low-impact assignments and assigning too few to labor-intensive yet needle-moving ones.  

For example, you can stack two client accounts to determine which brings higher revenue because of fewer communication delays. Or, you can benchmark performance changes after adopting a new business tool or streamlining a process in two customer service teams. 

With time insights, you can improve your staffing levels, determine the ROI of new software, re-negotiate client contracts, and make other improvements to your processes to improve business efficiency and profitability. 

Moreover, you can empower your talented employees to excel by coaching them to set better goals, try new management techniques, or effortlessly get into the deep work state.  

4. Set revenue-centric goals for teams

To pull in good revenue, you need to continuously improve your workforce efficiency. For many leaders, that often translates to making people ‘busy’ every second of their day.

But ‘busy’ doesn’t automatically equal extra revenue or productivity. So, your people may be stuck chasing the wrong objectives or dragged down by underlying inefficiencies. To avoid that, we recommend tracking KPIs like:

• Billable vs. non-billable hours per employee, and then eliminate the dreadful admin

• Resource utilization rate  — the percentage of an employee’s available time spent on billable or revenue-generating work to ensure optimal resource allocation

• Project profitability — high revenue and high expenses mean lower net profit and profit margins, which isn’t great

• Task completion rate to understand how effectively employees cycle through different tasks and address any workflow or performance issues

With Toggl Track, you can monitor all the above over any time period (week, month, quarter, year) … plus set specific revenue goals for your employees. 

Toggl Track Team Goals help managers direct people’s efforts to the highest priority tasks to hit the bigger revenue or velocity rate goals. 

Your people, in turn, concentrate on delivering results while also having enough flexibility to plan their days. At Toggl, we use an RAFT framework (Results and Accountability First at Toggl).

RAFT prioritizes results over effort or hours. We trust our skilled human capital to figure out how, when, where, and how they make the best work happen (while coaching them on effective time management).  

Some Togglers love working at the crack of dawn, while others don’t log in until midday. We don’t mind if people sign off early on some days and then clock in extra time on another as long as they hit all assigned goals and personal OKRs. 

RAFT allows us to build a strong remote culture of high individual accountability, driving both high employee satisfaction and steady revenue growth per employee. 

5. Invest in training and other strategic tools for ongoing improvements

Overall, there are many things you can tinker with to improve your revenue per employee metric, such as: 

• Adjusting your pricing strategy 
• Exploring new revenue streams 
• Finding cheaper suppliers 
• Improving logistics costs 
• Or diversifying into a new market 

The success of all of these efforts will hinge on your workforce specialization and expertise. If you’ve got a bloated organizational structure and many redundant roles, your RPE won’t budget without some restructuring. Similarly, your low revenue won’t miraculously climb if your business faces several skills mismatches. 

Start a conversation with your Human Resources team. Do they have enough data for informed workforce planning? HR software like Lattice and 15Five can better track headcount growth, employee performance, and engagement metrics. 

Skills assessment tools like Toggl Hire, in turn, can give you hard data on your people’s competencies, allowing you to plan training activities and screen new candidates for specific skills. Revenue platforms like Clari and Salesforce can measure revenue contribution per client-facing representative and continuously track sales team efficiency. 

The bottom line: For your operating model to attain peak profitability like Apple’s and Mastercard’s, you must constantly measure, tweak, and look for new ways to excel at what you do. 

Generate higher returns with Toggl Track

Toggl Track reveals exactly how your company generates revenue and where opportunities are lost to operating inefficiencies. Here’s how you can use our platform to up your RPE game: 

• Use a pre-made report view to run a profit loss analysis for any given period to evaluate your business health. 

• Track employee profitability at both project and individual levels by analyzing their billable hours and progress toward OKRs. 

• Avoid poor resource allocation choices with predictive project duration and budget insights. 

• Identify workflow inefficiencies, non-productive tasks, and bad time management habits, stalling your people from reaching peak productivity. 

• Benchmark team performance to evaluate the impacts of business process optimization and adoption of automation tools. 

Don’t leave RPE up to chance — start using Toggl Track to unlock your people’s full potential and reach your optimal operating state. 🚀

Book a free Toggl Track demo and explore how to drive higher business performance and profitability. 

How do you hire great employees in a dry talent pool and competitive hiring market? Add limited budget and it starts to feel like Mission Impossible. While we can’t send Tom Cruise to the rescue, there is a secret weapon you can use: equity compensation.

By offering future ownership in your company, not just a paycheck, you can attract ambitious, growth-minded employees who are invested in your organization’s success.

This guide breaks down how equity compensation works, why it’s so effective for hiring and retention, and how to implement it in a way that works for your business.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Equity compensation is a non-cash payment method that companies use to give employees a share of the business.
• Immediate ownership and earned equity over time are the two main methodologies, but most businesses choose the second option.
• There are four main types of equity compensation: stock options, restricted stock units, employee stock purchase plans, and performance shares.
• Equity compensation typically makes sense for startups with limited cash, fast-growing companies, or businesses preparing for an IPO or acquisition, especially in competitive markets where cash bonuses aren’t feasible.

What is equity compensation?

Equity compensation is a non-cash payment method companies use to give employees an ownership stake in the business. The most common forms of equity compensation are:

• Stock options
• Restricted stock units (RSUs)
• Employee stock purchase plans
• Performance shares

Equity compensation is most often used in startups and high-growth companies. Instead of splurging on large salaries (often because they can’t), these businesses offer equity to attract great talent while holding on to precious cash flow.

How equity compensation works

Let’s say your startup offers new employees 10,000 stock options at a strike price of $5 per share. These options vest over four years, so they have the right to purchase all 10,000 shares at $5 each after this amount of time.

Scenario 1: The startup grows, and the company goes public

The startup revenue grows, attracts investors, and eventually launches an IPO at $50 per share. The employee chooses to exercise their options:

• The cost: 10,000 shares × $5 = $50,000
• Market value: 10,000 shares × $50 = $500,000
• Profit: ⚡ $450,000 before taxes

Scenario 2: The company is acquired

Instead, the company is acquired, and the valuation is now $100 per share.

• The cost: 10,000 shares × $5 = $50,000
• Acquisition payout: 10,000 shares × $100 = $1,000,000
• Profit: ⚡ $950,000 before taxes

How do you pay equity compensation to employees?

Equity compensation is typically granted over a period of time to encourage long-term commitment in employees. Here are some common structures:

• Time-based vesting: The most common approach, where equity vests incrementally over several years (e.g., four-year vesting with a one-year cliff). This means no shares are earned in the first year, but after that, a percentage vests regularly (e.g., 25% after one year, then monthly or quarterly thereafter).
• Performance-based vesting: Shares vest only if employees meet specific performance goals, such as revenue milestones or product launches.
• Hybrid vesting requirements: A combination of time-based and performance-based criteria.

Alongside these structures, employees must also meet specific conditions to own their equity in full:

• Staying with the company: Employees forfeit their shares if they leave before completing the vesting period.
• Liquidity events: Some equity (especially RSUs in private companies) only becomes valuable after an IPO or acquisition.
• Exercise requirements: Stock options require employees to buy shares at the grant price to own them outright.

Immediate ownership vs. earned equity over time

Equity compensation can be structured in two ways: immediate ownership or earned equity over time. The key difference is whether employees receive full rights to their shares upfront or must stay with the company for a set time period to gain ownership.

Immediate ownership: rare and high-risk for companies

Companies sometimes grant equity immediately, meaning employees own their shares from day one. This is far from common because:

• Employees could leave just after receiving shares, eradicating any retention benefits from this incentive.
• Employees don’t have any built-in incentive to contribute to the company long-term.
• It increases dilution risk without ensuring company growth.

Earned equity over time: the standard approach

Most companies require employees to earn their equity gradually through a vesting schedule so they contribute to the company’s success before fully owning their shares.

In many cases, this is the more common and sensible option, although James Pilkington, Head of Compensation Data Solutions at Aon, notes some pitfalls:

• Some employees coast until their vesting date, contributing the bare minimum before moving on.
• High performers leave early, even forfeiting unvested equity if better opportunities arise or future employers offer buyouts.
• In down markets, when stock prices decline or stagnate, equity loses its perceived value and retention impact.

Types of equity compensation

There are various types of equity compensation plans, so pick one that aligns with your company’s goals and the value you want to provide to your employees.

Stock options

Stock options let employees buy company shares at a fixed price (strike price), regardless of future market value. If the stock price rises, employees can purchase shares at a discount and sell them for a profit.

How stock options work

• Grant: The company offers stock options with a strike price (e.g., $5 per share)
• Vesting: Employees must stay for a set period before they can exercise options
• Exercise: Once vested, employees can buy shares at the strike price
• Sell: If the stock price rises (e.g., $50 per share), employees can sell for a profit

Why companies offer stock options

• Promote long-term retention by tying rewards to tenure
• Appeal to employees who are optimistic about company growth
• Offer high potential upside without upfront cash cost to the company

Restricted stock units (RSUs)

Restricted stock units (RSUs) are a lower-risk form of equity compensation because employees don’t need to buy shares. Instead, they receive them for free once they vest. Unlike stock options, the absence of an upfront investment makes RSUs valuable even if the stock price drops.

How RSUs work

• Grant: The company awards RSUs but holds them until they vest
• Vesting Employees must stay for a set period. Some RSUs vest based on performance milestones like revenue goals.
• Ownership: Once vested, RSUs convert into shares (or cash equivalent)

Why companies offer RSUs

• Encourage long-term commitment and loyalty
• Provide value even if the stock plan drops (no purchase required)
• Popular with executives and senior hires due to lower risk

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs)

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) let employees buy company shares at a discount (typically 5-15%) using payroll deductions. This offers a low-barrier way for workers to invest in the company’s future.

How ESPPs work

• Enrollment: Employees sign up during an offering period to participate in the plan
• Contribution: A portion of each paycheck is set aside during the purchase period
• Purchase: At the end of the period, accumulated funds are used to buy company shares at a discount
• Sell: Employees can sell the shares immediately or hold them (often encouraged for income tax benefits)

Why companies offer ESPPs

• Foster a sense of ownership across the organization
• Boost employee morale and engagement
• Offer flexible participation and potential tax advantages (for Section 423-qualified plans)

Performance shares

Performance shares are equity awards tied to achieving specific business goals, such as revenue milestones, market share growth, or stock price performance. Companies often use them to incentivize executives or senior leaders.

How performance shares work

• Grant: The company offers a set number of shares to employees
• Vesting: Shares vest only if pre-defined performance targets are met (e.g., reaching $10M in revenue or a certain share price)
• Payout: Once goals are hit, shares convert into actual stock or cash value

Why companies offer performance shares

• Align executive performance with company success
• Provide clear incentives for achieving strategic goals
• Useful for retention during high-stakes growth periods (e.g., pre-IPO or merger and acquisition)

When does it make sense to offer employee equity compensation?

Any company can offer equity awards, but they’re particularly handy in the following scenarios.

If you’re short on cash but high on vision

Startups (especially bootstrapped ones) struggle with cash flow and can’t match the salaries offered by industry moguls. Offering equity as compensation lets these companies compete for top performers without a significant cash reserve. Potential employees are often willing to accept a lower salary for a larger equity compensation package.

If you’re prioritizing high-impact roles

Companies experiencing explosive growth don’t want to lose their most valuable team members. Equity keeps your specialists and high performers engaged so they stay and see the fruits of their labor.

Instead of jumping ship at the next great opportunity (or waiting for a pay equity audit,) they are willing to stay until the end of the vesting period to cash out.

If you’re preparing for an IPO or acquisition

If you’re planning a liquidity event, such as an acquisition or IPO, equity can help you retain your employees before the big event, when they can see their incentive stock options turn into cash payouts.

If you’re weighing alternatives to cash bonuses

Giving out cash bonuses is common when you want to create an attractive compensation package. But it’s not always sustainable. If you’re trying to conserve operating capital, equity is a nice alternative to a bonus.

How to use equity compensation to attract great talent

Offering equity as compensation makes you more attractive to job candidates, especially in competitive industries. If you run a small business, equity can be the bait that lures in the best of the best by saying, “We’re building something big, and you’re invited.”

Here’s how to make that message count during your hiring process.

Lead with equity in your job marketing

Equity should never be a footnote. Highlight it in your job descriptions, talk about it early on in your interview stages, and explain it clearly on your careers page. Candidates won’t know it’s available unless you first tell them, and then show them why it matters.

Create a simple equity calculator

Equity can feel a bit abstract, especially for candidates who haven’t had it before. Placing an equity calculator on your job pages shows how much their shares could be worth. It turns “maybe someday” into “oh wow, that’s exciting.”

Emphasize impact and ownership

Equity makes a clear connection between effort and outcomes. Drive this point home by making bold statements like: “Your work will shape the company and your future earnings.” This promise resonates particularly well with engineers, product teams, and entrepreneurial hires who want to see how their individual impact could play out.

Share real-life stories

Personal experience is a great trust builder. If you or someone on your team chose to work here because of equity, share that message with potential candidates.

In my case, I was recently on the hunt for a full-time job and interviewed with multiple companies. When I received two offers from startups with similar salaries and benefits, I opted for the one with an equity package and a four-year vesting period. The company I turned down only offered a salary.

It was a guarantee that I would stay with them in the long run, and, provided I do great work, everyone in the company wins. And I’m happy to share this story with prospective applicants, too.

Equity compensation can boost employee engagement, too

Equity compensation helps employees perceive your company as more than just a job. It’s a long-term investment in their own future, too. With equity as an incentive, you can see some of the following:

• Increased employee productivity
• Long-term goal focus
• Lower employee turnover
• Improved collaboration
• Higher accountability between the employer and employee, and vice versa

If you’re struggling with finding ways to motivate your employees, this can be a superb long-term productivity boost.

5 best practices for offering equity to your employees

To create an equity compensation plan for your business, you need to balance employee incentives, financial sustainability, and long-term growth.

1. Provide clear, transparent documentation

Employees should fully understand what is included in their equity package. Create an equity guidebook that includes information about:

• Vesting schedules: Outline when and how equity vests
• Stock type details: Explain whether the grant includes stock options, RSUs, or ESPP participation and how each works
• Tax implications: Clarify tax consequences and liabilities (e.g., ISO vs. NSO (non-qualified stock options) taxation, RSU taxation upon vesting)
• Liquidity expectations: Indicate whether employees can sell shares immediately or must wait for an IPO or acquisition
• Exit scenarios: Define what happens to unvested or vested equity if an employee leaves the company
• General financial planning advice: Include information on how long-term capital gains work

✅ How to do this: Don’t be tempted to use AI as a generative content shortcut. Speaking on the JP Workplace Solutions podcast, Executive AI Research Director at JP Morgan Chase & Co, Charese Smiley explains, “When we interact with a large language model….we become subject to how they maintain their data.”

2. Balance short-term perks with long-term equity benefits

Equity alone may not appeal to all candidates, especially those attracted to immediate compensation. A balanced offer can attract diverse talent:

• For risk-tolerant employees (e.g., early-stage startup hires): Offer lower ordinary income but higher equity with strong upside potential.
• For experienced professionals (e.g., senior hires): Combine a competitive salary with RSUs or performance-based shares.
• For broader employee participation: Include an ESPP (employee stock purchase plan) to let employees buy shares at a discount.

✅ How to do this: Offer flexible compensation packages, allowing employees to choose between higher salary vs. higher equity based on their preferences.

3. Set realistic and strategic equity pools

Your equity pool should cover your long-term hiring roadmap without over-diluting the cap table.

✅ How to do this: Most startups reserve 10-20% of shares for employees and adjust that pool as they grow. Keep your cap table up to date and build in room for refresh grants.

4. Define vesting structures that reflect modern retention

The old-school four-year cliff doesn’t work for everyone anymore. Younger employees may expect faster liquidity or leave before long-term vesting kicks in.

✅ How to do this: Test alternatives like no cliff or shorter vesting. As Robyn Shutak, Equity Compensation Expert at Infinite Equity, explains:

“Some companies have omitted the cliff on their four-year vesting. They’re essentially saying, ‘Hey, if it’s not working out for you, you can leave sooner.’ It’s that kind of philosophy where you start the company as a new hire and then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘This isn’t the right place for me, but I want to wait around a year for my award to vest after year one.’”

Ran Chen, an AI Applications Professional for Tubi, agrees that long-term vesting schedules are a problem for younger employees:

“Job hopping is common, sometimes by design, to increase pay quickly. If an average young employee expects to stay only 1–3 years at a company, a traditional four-year vesting equity grant may not fully resonate. They might discount the value of unvested stock beyond a couple of years.”

5. Educate employees on equity value from day one

Most employees don’t fully understand equity, and that’s a missed engagement opportunity. Make education a part of onboarding and reinforce it regularly with tools and training.

✅ How to do this: Use equity calculators, host Q&As, and bring in financial experts. According to Morgan Stanley, in companies where employees are highly or moderately engaged with their equity, 48% communicate about it weekly or monthly. In contrast, 70% of companies with low or no engagement only communicate annually or on an ad hoc basis.

Build a holistic talent attraction and retention strategy with Toggl Hire

Equity compensation can be incredibly powerful as a talent acquisition tool, but only when combined with other elements of a solid, integrated talent strategy.

Toggl Hire offers skills-based screening, customizable job application pages, and transparent hiring workflows so you can connect with candidates who do what they claim, are aligned with your company vision, and value long-term success rather than short-term wins.

Create a free Toggl Hire account today to find candidates who speak your language and want to stick around for the long run.

A new quarter, a new round of updates — and this one’s big. Let’s dive into what’s new (and coming soon!) in Toggl Track from Q1 2025.

New Reports Experience Launching in Beta!

We’re rolling out a new and simpler Reports experience for our beta users — designed to give you more power and flexibility to understand your workload, track profitability, and uncover productivity trends with ease.

Want to try it out? Enable beta features in your Profile settings.

Here is what to expect:

• New experience: Reports, Analytics, and Insights are now organized into five clear tabs — Summary, Detailed, Workload, Profitability, and My Reports.
• “Weekly” becomes “Workload” reports: You will be able to analyze your workload data with custom date ranges, going beyond weekly timesheets.
• “Insights” now lives under the “Profitability” tab, offering a more powerful and multi-level profitability analysis. Break down profitability by member, project, client, and more properties.
• “Analytics” moves to “My Reports”: access past custom reports, create new ones, and manage all saved reports in one place.
• Powerful new filters: analyze data right in Toggl Track, without time-consuming exports. Use 11+ properties, 8 condition options, and AND/OR logic for deeper insights.
• More flexibility in grouping and stacking: Break down your data by even more properties to get the exact view you need.

Want all the details? Check out the full breakdown here or walk through it step by step here! ⬇️

More Flexibility Over Who Can See Sensitive Data

Teams are complex — and so is managing who gets access to what. That’s why we’ve introduced new ways to control visibility for billable rates, labor costs, and private project data.

User-specific access to billable rates and labor costs

Control visibility on a per-user basis. Head to Organization Settings → Members, click Access Rights, and customize visibility for billable rates and labor costs. More here.

Reminder: Public vs Private projects

Public projects are visible to everyone in the workspace. Private projects keep the data limited to assigned project members only.

Here are two new updates to help you give the right people the right level of access.

Restrict public project data to admins only

Keep public project time entries private by limiting visibility to admins only. Go to your Workspace settings and tick the option to enable it. Learn more about project privacy settings here.

Assign Project Managers in bulk

Want to give teammates access only to the projects and people they manage — without granting top-level access rights?

Now, you can easily assign Project Managers to multiple Private projects — all in just a few clicks.

Project Managers can:

• View time tracked under their projects
• Edit project details
• Manage team members within their projects

You can now assign Project Managers to your Private projects in bulk. Here’s how:

Projects → Select Private Projects → Click Edit → Select Members → Assign Roles From The Dropdown.

It’s the quickest way to give the right people the right access — while keeping everything else private.

👉 Learn more about Project Manager access rights.

We’re ISO 27001 certified!

We’re proud to share that Toggl is now ISO 27001 certified 🎉

With GDPR and CCPA compliance already in place, this certification means your data is protected by globally recognized security standards — and we’re continuously monitoring and improving our practices.

Work in a regulated industry? Need to meet strict vendor requirements?

👉 Download our ISO certificate or learn more here

New Dark Mode is Here

We’ve introduced Dark Mode, a sleek new look that’s easier on the eyes (and perhaps just a little cooler too). You can now choose from three themes to match your style. Check them all out in your Profile settings.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

For extra peace of mind, you can now secure your personal Toggl Track account with two-factor authentication.

It’s easy to set up — and gives your account an added layer of protection. Just head to your Profile settings to enable it.

Referral Program: Give $5, Get $5

Love Toggl Track? Now you can share it — and get rewarded.

Invite your friends to try Toggl Track. If they upgrade to a paid plan, you both get $5/€5 in credit, automatically applied to the Toggl Track organization you own.

It’s a win-win: they get a smarter way to track time, and you get rewarded for spreading the word.

👉 Here’s how it works.

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That’s a wrap on Q1! Stay tuned for even more updates coming your way — and don’t forget to:

Ever wondered what your employees are up to but don’t want to intrude and become a micromanager? Hmmm, you could buy a crystal ball if you’re into that sort of thing. If not? You’d be better off using time management reporting.

This is the practice of tracking and presenting time spent at work, which helps managers spot inefficiencies, distribute workloads evenly, set realistic goals, improve transparency, and much more.

Great time management reporting can benefit any business, from improved team performance and resource allocation to increased revenue. Here’s everything you need to know.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Time tracking reports focus (or they should, at least) on team efficiency rather than individual productivity. They typically include milestones, deadlines, deliverables, and other project or client data.
• Time management reporting helps you increase revenue, improve productivity, comply with the law, make better estimates, allocate resources more efficiently, and build trust with your clients.
• You can use Toggl Track to build fully custom, detailed time management reports with a wealth of data points, from the level of your entire business down to individual tasks.
• Once you have time tracking data, you can use it to remove operational bottlenecks, improve team performance, showcase value to your clients, and improve team communication.

What’s included in a time tracking report?

Time tracking reports are powerful tools for gaining insight into how people execute their work. Individuals may use them to enhance personal productivity, but teams and businesses need a broader perspective focusing on overall project efficiency rather than just personal output.

A detailed team time tracking report will include:

• Project milestones and deadlines to track progress and identify risks early
• Task completion times to understand how individual tasks influence specific workflows
• Billable vs. non-billable hours to ensure accurate client billing and maximize profitability
• Resource allocation data to see how work is distributed across a team
• Budget tracking to compare estimated vs. actual time spent to stay within financial constraints

Why time tracking reporting is so important

There are countless benefits to time tracking, depending on the use case and industry. For example:

• A hospitality company easily increased its revenue by 10% just by tracking employee time
• A digital consultancy achieved a 97% revenue forecast accuracy
• A PR firm increased its profitability by 20%
• A small communications agency increased in team size by 60% thanks to a better way to allocate resources

But what about your company? Here’s what you can expect when you commit to accurate time tracking reporting. 👇

Avoid lost revenue

We’ve all used the expression “time is money,” but it’s spot on when you bill clients by the hour rather than per deliverable. Accurate time tracking makes for a clear-cut difference between billable and non-billable hours and helps you provide value for clients without punishing yourself with extra work.

For example, you can spot how many work hours go into specific activities or clients and how this affects invoicing. You may learn that you invest more time in Client A, who pays you $500 per completed project, than in Client B, who pays $2,000 for similar work.

Access to time logs and timesheets gives you a breakdown of clients, projects, team members, and how they spend their time. This lets you spot inefficiencies easily, whether you need to reallocate team members to high-priority tasks or have a conversation with a needy client taking up more hours than stated in their retainer.

Improve employee productivity

Some employees see time tracking as an invasion of their privacy, and if you’re using surveillance software that takes screenshots, records your screen, or measures your keystrokes, then they have a point.

The good news? Other tools like Toggl Track exist to support team productivity rather than point fingers using any creepy tactics. Once you explain to your team that time tracking tools are there to benefit everyone, you can streamline your operations, save time, automate tasks, and so much more.

For example, you can identify areas where employees struggle and lose time. Detailed time data makes it easier to spot low-value, low-priority tasks that clog up project management workflows and drain time and money.

Legal compliance

Time tracking isn’t just nice to have. For some companies, tracking time is a legal necessity. These are just some of the laws that touch upon time tracking:

• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the US: Requires employers to track employee work hours to ensure compliance with minimum wage and overtime pay laws.
• European Working Time Directive (WTD) in the EU: Limits the maximum workweek to 48 hours and mandates rest, breaks, and paid leave.
• California Labor Laws in the US: Requires strict tracking of meal and rest breaks.
• UK Working Time Regulations (WTR): Limits the maximum workweek to 48 hours unless employees opt out. Also mandates rest breaks and paid annual leave.

Keeping accurate time records is a small price to pay for the prevention of potentially big lawsuits.

Cost estimation for better budgeting

Tracking your time now helps you in the months and years to come. Once you’ve tracked time for a while, you’ll build up a picture of how long it takes to complete specific projects and hit important milestones.

With the right tool, you can analyze profitability, revenue, and labor costs — breaking them down by Members, User Groups, Projects, Clients, Tasks, or Tags for a more detailed view.

The result? You become better at pricing, forecasting, project planning, and improving your profitability. With good time tracking reports, you gain insights into projects, tasks, and people, which gives you invaluable data for future projects.

Resource allocation

Time tracking and management show you exactly what your team is up to in real-time. For example, one department could be drowning in work while another is at 20% capacity.

Tracking time also means tracking project progress so you can allocate budget and resources accordingly. You don’t have to wait until you miss a critical deadline to determine that something is halting you in your tracks.

Build trust through transparency

Time management software is a bridge of trust between you, your clients, and your employees.

With detailed timesheets, client billing is easier because they see what they’re being charged for, with an itemized list of tasks and deliverables. For employees, timesheets and time logs show the exact amount of time someone has worked on a task or project.

With tools such as Toggl Track, the task and project time tracking data is available to everyone, so employees can enjoy transparency without fear of micromanaging or surveillance (which we’re very against, by the way, and you should be, too).

How to create detailed time management reports with Toggl Track

Accurate time management starts with consistent, accurate tracking. Follow these six steps to learn how to create detailed reports in Toggl Track:

1. Track time accurately

To track time effectively, start by adding a timer for each task or project you’re working on. Toggl Track makes this process simple with our easy-to-use start/stop timer, so you can record time accurately in real time. If you forget to start the timer, you can manually add time entries.

2. Create clear project and task categories

To make your time data actionable, organize your time entries by project and task categories.

Create projects for major initiatives and break them down into tasks. For example, if you’re working on a marketing campaign, you might have projects like “Content Creation” or “Social Media Management” with tasks such as “Write Blog Post” or “Schedule Posts.”

3. Generate custom reports

Once you’ve tracked your time consistently, it’s time to generate custom reports that provide meaningful insights. Toggl Track allows you to filter and customize reports by team member, project, client, and more.

To do this, go to the Reports section, select the date range, and use the filter options to break down time by the category that matters most to your business.

• Time breakdown by team member: Understand who’s spending time on what by filtering by user.
• Time breakdown by project: See how much time is allocated to each project, helping you manage budgets and deadlines.
• Time breakdown by client: Track billable hours for each client you work with.

4. Review report regularly

Regularly reviewing your time management reports is crucial for identifying areas where you can improve efficiency. Set a recurring reminder to review your reports weekly or monthly to catch any issues early, such as any time you spend on low-priority tasks or team members needing support.

5. Use visual summaries

Visual reports like pie charts and bar graphs make it easier to understand time allocations at a glance.

Toggl Track offers these visual summaries, which can highlight time spent by project, task, or team member. This makes it easier to spot trends and adjust to optimize time usage.

6. Customize your reports

Customization is one of the standout features of Toggl Track, enabling you to tailor your time management reports to suit the specific needs of your business. Whether you need to track billable hours, project progress, or time spent on specific tasks, Toggl Track allows you to adjust settings and filters to generate the most relevant reports.

Toggl Track’s Enterprise plan offers personalized onboarding and training for businesses with more complex needs. You’ll receive customized solutions built by Toggl’s engineers to meet your team’s unique requirements, ensuring your reporting is as efficient and relevant as possible.

What to do with time tracker data once you have it

Once you have the time entries and associated data in one place, put the intel to good use and break it down into key focus areas. Here’s how to use that data to improve efficiency, win back your team’s time, and set an accurate project budget.

Identify and resolve bottlenecks

Look at your reports to find specific tasks, projects, or people holding you back. For example, you can combine your task management and time tracking apps (e.g. Asana) to determine which clients take up most of your team’s working time. Compare that with revenue to see if the client is getting more value than they’re paying for.

You can also look at timesheets to determine how much work each team member completes across clients in a day, week, or month and cross-reference with their time off. Without doing complex calculations or digging into Excel sheets, you’ll find your top performers.

Another way of looking at it is comparing how much time specific tasks take up in your overall workflows. For example, if the wireframing part of the design process takes up 40% of the workload, the work should be delegated, outsourced, or completed by extra staff.

Supercharge your team performance

One key feature of good time tracking software like Toggl Track is the ability to examine individual and group performance. The end goal is not to micromanage or conduct surveillance. Instead, you want to find out who is overworked and who could help them out.

For example, you can use Toggl Track to find out:

• Who works the most, and when
• Your most time-consuming tasks
• The ratio of billable to non-billable hours
• Time spent on tasks vs. budget for specific clients
• Estimated vs. actual task time

Having a strong reporting functionality in your time management app lets you help your team and optimize their workload instead of monitoring them.

Communicate with your team

A time tracking tool should never be used as part of a blame game. Instead, encourage your team members to use data as a tool for collaboration. For example, if you spot that someone is struggling, give them an extra set of hands or postpone their deadlines to support them.

This is the only way to get long-term buy-in from your team members. The data should reinforce trust and transparency and not pit your team members against one another.

Show your clients value

Imagine you run a marketing agency and create assets for a client in the insurance industry. You create a landing page for them, and through some analytics work, you show the client that the page (copy, design, and research) took 10 hours to create and now nets the client $5,000 per month. If they paid $5,000 for the work, this means that after the first month, they’re making a clean profit and a fantastic return on investment.

Time management reporting can prove the value of your work to your clients so they can connect the work with the value they get. They can justify their investment (not costs), and you can, in turn, build long-lasting partnerships.

Boost team performance and profitability

Time management reporting benefits everyone in and outside of your business. You’ll see improved performance, employee satisfaction, and profitability.

Remember that better time management is about creating smarter ways to work, improving team dynamics, enhancing client relationships, and ultimately, growing your revenue.

If that sounds like something your business could benefit from, book a demo with Toggl Track to see how we can transform your business with smart time management reporting.

Making the wrong hiring decision can cost thousands of dollars. Do it wrong, and you’ll lose more than money and time, though. You’ll have to start the hiring process all over again, hoping that someone amazing comes along.

But there is a better way — investing in the right methods for screening candidates.

We’re going to walk you through not one but eleven different ways to screen candidates, from a cover letter to a skills assessment and all the way to paid job trials — each of them with its pros and cons.

Let’s find out the top ways to get the best possible job candidates in the market.

Introduction to 11 popular methods for screening candidates

Method	Screening Objective	Pros	Cons
CV Screening	Evaluate candidates‘ experience, qualifications, and career progression.	– Quick overview of candidates’ history. – Easy to compare between candidates.	– Can be biased (e.g., due to names). – Doesn’t assess soft skills or fit.
Cover Letters	Gauge motivation, communication skills, and cultural fit.	– Can reveal a candidate’s passion/motivation. – Shows writing skills.	– Time-consuming to read. – Can be generic or deceptive.
Phone Screening	Preliminary assessment of skills, fit, and motivation.	– Efficient. – Immediate feedback.	– Limited depth. – Doesn’t assess non-verbal cues.
Skills Assessments	Test specific abilities relevant to the job.	– Objective measure of skills. – Can tailor to specific job needs.	– Can be stressful for candidates. – May not reflect real-world scenarios.
Video Interviews	Evaluate interpersonal skills, fit, and deeper insights into CV details.	– More personal than phone. – Saves time/travel costs.	– Technical issues. – Can be impersonal compared to in-person.
ATS Screening	Automated initial scan for relevant keywords and qualifications in CVs.	– Efficient for large volumes. – Reduces manual work.	– Can overlook qualified candidates. – Impersonal.
Reference & Background Checks	Confirm accuracy of CV, gauge reputation, and assess past behaviors/performance.	Confirm accuracy of CV, gauge reputation, and assess past behaviors/performance.	– Can be time-consuming. – Limited by honesty of references.
Social Media Screening	Gauge cultural fit, personal interests, and potential red flags.	– Provides informal insights. – Reveals potential cultural fit.	– Privacy concerns. – Can be misleading or out of context.
Take-home Assignments	Assess practical skills and problem-solving in a more relaxed setting.	– Reflects real-world tasks. – Allows for creativity.	– Time-consuming for candidates. – Risks of plagiarism.
– Real-world assessment. – Fair compensation for the candidate’s time.	Engage candidates while testing skills in a simulated environment.	– Engaging & interactive. – Can test a variety of skills.	– Can be seen as gimmicky. – Might not be suitable for all roles.
Paid Trial Projects	Evaluate a candidate’s skills and fit in real-time, on-the-job scenarios.	– Real-world assessment. – Fair compensation for candidate’s time.	– Requires investment. – May raise expectations for permanent positions.

What is candidate screening?

Candidate screening is the process of evaluating job applicants and reviewing their information about skills and qualifications, for the purpose of finding candidates that meet your job requirements.

There are numerous ways to screen candidates, depending on your goals and available time and resources. We’re going to show you 11 that will make your hiring decisions easier and help you hire great talent.

What should you look for when screening candidates?

The candidate screening process should give you enough information to make a good hiring decision. Given that screening is often the first step in the hiring process, you should be able to quickly go through a pile of different data points in a short time frame.

These are the items you should watch out for:

1. Relevant experience. Prior experience in a given role, niche, and industry. The candidate should have a certain number of years in the right background, doing a similar type of work to the role you are looking to fill.
2. The required skills. Besides the experience, job candidates should have the hard and soft skills needed to do a job well.
3. Educational background. The job candidates should have a certain level of education or different types of certificates that give them a solid foundation for their work.
4. Cultural fit. The best job candidates not only know how to do the job and have the right experience but also fit into your team in terms of core values and culture.
5. Career progression. How have the job applicants progressed through their careers so far? Do they have the potential to progress if you hire them?
6. Achievements and results. What kind of results have they achieved in their previous roles, and do they have any proof to show for it?
7. Job tenure. How long have the candidates stayed in each of their previous roles? Some hiring managers prefer not to hire job hoppers.
8. Fit with the job requirements. Does the candidate tick all the boxes in the job description, and can you objectively predict that they will perform well in the role you’re hiring for?
9. References and recommendations. Do they have references from previous roles that could vouch for them and their good performance?
10. Gaps in employment. Are there any periods where the candidates did not work, and what were the reasons for it?
11. Personal presentation. How does the candidate present themselves during the screening process? This entails their resume, phone screening, video interviews, writing skills, and more.
12. Location and relocation. Where is the candidate located? Are they willing to relocate for the right offer and if it is a requirement?
13. Salary expectations. Does the candidate’s ideal salary match what you can offer for the position?
14. Eligibility and legal criteria. Can the candidate legally work in your country or area of residence? Do they need special permits or visas, or are there any other obstacles to their employment?
15. Communication skills. How does the candidate articulate their thoughts in writing, on video, and in person?

This might sound like a lot of things to watch out for during the candidate screening process, but these are the foundations of making a great hire based on solid proof.

What is pre-screening or initial screening of applicants?

Pre-screening is what happens before the actual screening process. Before you sit down to have a conversation with the job applicants, you need to verify if they have what it takes to do the job well and if they tick all the boxes.

Pre-screening is usually automated, as opposed to the process of screening candidates, which can (but does not have to) be manual in nature.

Why is candidate screening important?

The candidate screening process is crucial for a successful hiring process. When you screen candidates, you ensure that the information they provided is accurate and that they meet all of your screening criteria. But let’s get into more specific details.

Efficient hiring process. The average job ad gets around 118 job applicants. If you hire remotely, multiply that number by at least 3. Candidate screening helps you go from 118 to a handful of the very best candidates in a short time, so you can make better use of your time.

Quality assurance. Hiring mistakes are very costly, and a proper screening process ensures that only the very best job applicants make it through to the final rounds.

Cultural fit. You can screen job candidates for cultural fit, too, and find out if they align with your core values, mission, and vision.

Cost savings. The total cost of hiring a new employee can go up to $16,000. If you make a mistake in your hiring process, that’s a lot of money down the drain. Proper candidate screening helps save money.

Shorter time to hire. When you screen candidates at the beginning of the hiring process, you can fill positions more quickly as you can find out if they meet the requirements early on.

Legal compliance. Discriminating against certain parts of the population is not just immoral but also illegal and could lead you to hire bad candidates just because of an unconscious bias. Screening applicants ensures that you have a fair and unbiased hiring process.

Better employee retention. When you hire the right candidates, they stick around for longer. Good candidate screening ensures that your employees are there for the long haul.

Protection against fraud. Make sure that job applicants are who they say they are by comparing their resumes and real-world skills.

Improved onboarding. As you screen job candidates, you’ll get more familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, and you can prepare a better, more personalized onboarding strategy.

Improved employer branding. You can become known as a company that respects its job applicants and ensures that the hiring process is quick, respectful, and effortless for everyone involved.

#1 – CV or Resume screening

CV screening or resume screening is the process of going through candidate resumes and making sure that their qualifications and skills match your job requirements. You typically have to do this manually by reading the resumes one by one.

That’s rather time-consuming, which is why many businesses automate it. Instead of hiring managers, apps like ATS can “read” your candidates’ resumes to pick up on keywords.

Recruiters like this traditional method because it has been around for a while, and they’re familiar with it. However, it is time-consuming and inefficient, and in many cases, candidates tend to fabricate their experiences and skills.

In fact, screening a resume can be compared to judging a book by its cover. A recent survey found that at least 78% of applicants lie on job applications and resumes. It’s virtually impossible to gauge a candidate’s technical fit based on their CV alone.

Likewise, candidates aren’t typically fans of resumes. They take a long time to prepare, and they need to be personalized for each job opening. Also, they don’t accurately reflect the actual skills the applicant has.

#2 – Cover letters

Cover letters are (outdated) written documents where candidates have to explain their motivation for applying, as well as why they’re a good fit for the role. Most businesses require them along with a resume — a double whammy for applicants who need to spend hours preparing both.

Recruiters like cover letters because they give candidates space to talk about themselves and their motivations. In combination with resumes, they can tell you a lot about a candidate and whether they meet your screening criteria.

However, cover letters aren’t a favorite for hiring managers because they only show the candidates’ writing skills. And must we even mention how candidates feel about cover letters? In 2024, don’t expect any candidate to get excited about having to write yet another cover letter.

In recent years, many businesses have stepped away from using cover letters to screen candidates. The reason is simple — the cons outweigh the pros for everyone involved.

#3 – Phone screening

With this method of screening candidates, you call them on their phone to verify their information and ask further questions about their skills and qualifications. It’s easy for both the applicants and the hiring managers, and with the right script, it can be pretty effective.

Hiring managers are in favor of phone screening as it’s a quick way to screen job applicants before inviting them to show up on video or in person. At the same time, they are not ideal because you miss out on many cues, such as non-verbal communication and body language.

Candidates are okay with this method, too — provided the calls are scheduled and short. However, phone calls don’t allow them to fully show their skills.

#4 – Skills assessments

Skills tests are short tests that have questions or tasks that the candidates need to solve to show they have the right skills for the job. Modern skills tests such as Toggl Hire allow for a super quick way of screening applicants, as they can be done in less than 15 minutes. After this, both sides find out if they’re a great fit for each other.

From the hiring side, skills tests are a great way to screen job applicants. They are much faster than reviewing resumes, and the hiring manager can see if candidates have the job-specific skills to do the actual job. On the downside, some candidates can cheat on these skills tests.

As for the applicants, they are fans, according to the feedback we get at Toggl Hire. It’s one of the most efficient screening methods for them, as they can do the skills tests in 15 minutes and immediately get feedback about their results.

#5 – Video interviews

Video calls are a superb replacement for in-person interviews, as they allow more flexibility and are ideal for remote roles.

Hiring managers think that video interviews are convenient as they facilitate the hiring process, as they can talk to multiple candidates in a short time frame. However, they’re best when used in combination with other screening methods. After all, some candidates are just great at interviewing but not other things (like the important on-the-job things they need to be good at).

Candidates think that video interviews are a great way to show off their communication skills and present themselves in the best light possible. However, they may not give them opportunities to show their real-world skills in the interview process.

BONUS – Asynchronous video interviews

Take the power of video interview and x10 it — that’s what you get with a One-Way Video Interview. The ultimate way to screen job applicants early on in the process is to invite them to take part in a pre-recorded video Q&A on their skills, experiences, and knowledge.

What’s the point? Async video interviews serve as an additional screening method early in the recruitment process. Both recruiter and applicant commit a minimum amount of time and effort to confirm technical and cultural fit before engaging in a deeper conversation.

For instance, Video intros (our built-in video interviewing feature) bring significant benefits to the screening process:

• They’re quick, lasting no longer than 10 minutes (typically 2-3 questions)
• An expert-created pool of interview questions offers the ultimate convenience
• You screen candidates’ critical skills at scale by interviewing multiple applicants at once
• Candidates love the friendly user interface and unlimited re-records
• It’s quick and easy to give meaningful candidate feedback through Toggl Hire

Upgrading your candidate screening process with asynchronous interviews could help your team spend less time in poor later-stage interviews and keep hiring managers happy.

#6 – ATS screening

ATS or applicant tracking systems are apps similar to CRMs that store all the information about candidates during the hiring process. They take resumes and other associated info and run them through algorithms to find the best applicants quickly. For example, they can analyze work experiences (years, positions, etc.) or identify keywords the candidates used in their qualifications and skills.

Most hiring experts are in favor of applicant tracking systems as they are quick and easy to use, especially compared to reviewing resumes manually. However, they may cause you to lose valuable candidates just because they did not use the right keywords or the right resume format.

This is the same reason why the typical applicant is not in favor of an applicant tracking system. While they do speed up the candidate selection process, they also pose a risk. Many suitable candidates get disqualified because of technicalities.

#7 – Reference and background checks

In this part of the screening process, the hiring team calls up previous employers and asks them about a specific employee and their performance. The aim is to find out if the information they provided is accurate and, even more so, to learn more about their soft skills. A background check is similar but may include checking for criminal history, drug screening, and more.

For businesses, this is a good way to screen candidates, as previous employers can provide useful information to stop you from making the wrong hire. Reference checking can be completely free, provided that the person in the previous company can talk about an employee who worked there.

On the other hand, background checks can get pretty expensive. Also, in many cases, it’s illegal to do them before you officially make an offer to the candidate.

#8 – Social media screening

You can screen candidates by taking a look at their social media profiles and finding relevant information. Most of the time, you’re looking for a strong online presence, especially if you’re hiring for marketing roles. However, you can also look for inappropriate behavior and reasons why (not) to hire someone.

For hiring managers, this method of screening potential candidates can be effective — for the right roles. However, there are dangers involved as it might not be fully legal, depending on where you are located.

Many candidates are also not in favor of using social media as a way to do screening, as they see it as an invasion of privacy.

#9 – Take-home assignments

The shortlisted candidates can get an assignment they can do at home and in their free time. Once you’re past the interview stage, you can give your best candidates a small test task to do and determine if they have the skills and not just a good resume.

Most hiring managers will state that take-home tasks are one of the best methods to screen potential employees as they can determine how they do the job and how well they stick to deadlines.

For candidates, this is a recruiting method that allows them to see what real-world situations would be like in a specific role. It is more time-intensive compared to interviews, but then again, it is reserved for only the best talent from your entire applicant pool.

#10 – Gamified job simulations

You can give the candidates a feeling like they’re working alongside you from the comfort of their own homes. Present them with a scenario and give them a practical problem to solve as a part of their recruiting process.

For example, you can give potential developers a small coding task to figure out what went wrong with a few lines of code or to create new code from scratch. Of course, the task should be relevant to your specific job role and company.

This can be a great addition to other screening tools for hiring managers. It takes a bit more time to set up and monitor, but it can provide valuable insights while boosting the candidate experience.

For candidates, this is a fun way to do work and learn more about the company simultaneously. However, it requires a bigger time investment than a skills assessment or face-to-face interviews.

#11 – Paid trial projects

When you’ve rounded up the very best candidates, you can give one or more of them a chance to work on a paid trial project.

This can be a project where they work within your team, like we do here at Toggl. The best candidates work alongside us for a few days so we can see if we’re a good fit, both in terms of skills and culture.

It can also be a paid test project where the candidate can complete a task or project for a certain fee. The most important thing for this screening technique is for the task to be meaningful and resemble what they would do if hired.

Companies love this approach because it allows them to screen candidates and see how they perform in real time. However, it can also be a pretty complex and expensive way to learn more about a candidate’s capabilities.

On the flip side, candidates are generally in favor of this method. However, if they need to do a paid trial project alongside your team while they already work at another job, it can make scheduling difficult.

What are the best candidate screening methods?

For some, screening interviews work well; for others, screening resumes may be the key to an amazing selection process.

Regardless of which screening method you choose, it’s best to combine multiple methods for maximum effect. This way, you can offer an amazing candidate experience and be sure that you’re making the best possible choice of a job applicant.

Not sure where to get started? How about a skills test?

With Toggl Hire, you can browse a huge library of soft and hard skills tests to find the right one for your next role. Hire based on solid evidence, not your gut feeling. Browse our assessment templates and get started today!

The Great Resignation was a wake-up call for employers as an alarming 50 million US workers quit their jobs in 2022. The UK, France, Germany, Singapore, and Australia experienced similar upheavals as employers were forced to rethink how they engage and entice talent.

One of the best strategies is to enrich individual job roles by aligning the required work with employees’ strengths and passions. It’s not rocket science — morale, productivity, and retention naturally rise when work feels more engaging and fulfilling. This guide explores the concept of job enrichment in more detail, including its benefits, challenges, and strategies for enriching jobs in your organization.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• American psychologist Frederick Herzberg designed the two-factor theory, identifying two main influences of job satisfaction: hygiene and motivation.
• Job enrichment increases employee satisfaction and productivity, lowers employee turnover rates, and creates more innovative companies.
• Job enrichment strategies will likely fail without leadership buy-in or a willingness to experiment with change.
• Toggl Hire has identified five successful job enrichment strategies: employee autonomy, training, role variety, recognition, and aligning tasks with individual strengths.

The history behind the job enrichment theory

Job enrichment wasn’t much of a conversation topic until American psychologist Frederick Herzberg introduced the two-factor theory. In his 1959 book, “Motivation to Work,” Herzberg identified two influences affecting job satisfaction: hygiene and motivation factors.

• Hygiene factors, like salaries, workplace policies, and coworker relationships, may prevent dissatisfaction, but they can’t create true satisfaction.
• Motivation factors, like role significance and increased autonomy, truly drive employee motivation. Herzberg’s theory laid the foundation for current job enrichment strategies that focus on making jobs more fulfilling and meaningful. 

As businesses focus on creating more human-centric workplaces, job enrichment plays a huge role. Employers invest in keeping their workers fulfilled because when employees are happy, the whole organization thrives.

3 real-world examples of job enrichment

So, what exactly does job enrichment look like in the real world? Here are some examples of companies doubling down on this important concept:

Amazon commits to skills development

Amazon pledged $1.2 billion to offer 300,000 employees access to education and skills training programs. Workers can learn more about machine learning, join technical apprenticeships, or even participate in on-the-job training to improve their skill sets. All these initiatives are designed to improve employees’ skill sets and prepare them for advanced roles within the company.

DotActiv empowers individual decision-making

Software company DotActiv includes independent decision-making as one of its core values. Company leaders trust employees to make their own decisions because they’ve empowered them to do so. They also accept feedback and suggestions from their workers on how to improve functions within the company. Account Manager Yolande Beumer explains,

“We have a Software Acceptance Committee. Every week we test a function on the software and if you feel that there is a way to improve that function, you can raise it to the IT team and they can work alongside you to better improve that function.”

When employees feel their voices are being heard and their skills are being developed, they’re more likely to become invested, capable team members. 

Google gives space for side projects

Search engine giant Google famously offers 20% time — a policy where employees spend 20% of their paid employment time on personal projects they feel jazzed about. And with excellent results, too — Google AdSense, Google News, and Gmail have all come from this company initiative.

While the policy has evolved over the years, it still exists in various forms, encouraging innovation, autonomy, and skill development. Beyond this, Google fosters job enrichment through other key programs, such as its Internal Mobility program and the Area 120 idea incubator.

Job enrichment vs. job enlargement (yes, there’s a difference)

Don’t get job enrichment and job enlargement confused. They serve very different purposes:

• Job enrichment involves adding depth and meaning to an employee’s role, such as by granting more autonomy, providing opportunities for personal growth, or involving them in decision-making processes. Example: A marketing specialist designs and leads a new campaign, which significantly boosts their engagement and job satisfaction.
• Job enlargement expands the role’s number of tasks or new responsibilities without adding meaningful depth. Example: You ask your customer service representative to handle more calls without providing additional support or training.

6 benefits of job enrichment in the modern workplace

It pays (literally) to invest in employee satisfaction and a great work environment. If you want to gain more, you have to give more. Here are the specific benefits you can expect when you commit to job enrichment as an employee experience strategy:

1. Increased employee satisfaction

Right now, the average workplace is struggling. A staggering 53% of workers in a typical organization are either disengaged, disruptive, or planning their exit. In other words, more than half of the workforce is doing the bare minimum — or worse, actively working against company goals. Yikes.

Here’s the thing: a pay raise will only do so much to motivate these workers. Long-term engagement requires more — autonomy, meaningful work, and clear career growth. And that’s exactly what separates thriving employees from the rest. According to McKinsey, only 4% of workers drive innovation, add value, and uplift their teams. This elite group stands apart from the majority largely because they have the autonomy and opportunities that most employees lack. Imagine what would happen if employers extended these benefits to the rest of their workforce.

2. Improved productivity

Adding more depth to a job role and recognizing the incredible contributions of each employee in the role can significantly boost employee focus and motivation. It’s human nature — if employees feel a sense of accomplishment when they complete their new tasks, they’re more likely to stay motivated and perform better.

Need proof? A whopping 77.9% of employees admit they would be more productive if their job efforts were recognized more frequently. When companies invest in meaningful recognition and job enrichment, they maximize their company’s labor investment efficiency by ensuring employees operate at peak performance.

3. Higher retention rates

People spend one-third of their lives at work — so if that time feels meaningless, they won’t stick around. It’s that simple. On the other hand, people who feel challenged and supported don’t need to job-hop to find fulfillment.

When employers take the time to enrich jobs and provide developmental opportunities, they’ll reap the rewards. For example, LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report finds that companies with a moderate learning culture enjoy a 27% employee retention rate. This skyrockets to a 57% retention boost for companies with a strong learning culture.

So, if you’re the one currently dissatisfied with your retention rates, that’s a sign to invest more in job development and provide reasons for your workers to remain loyal.

4. Better employee skill development

When your employees grow — professionally or personally — it only helps your company. And job enrichment is all about growth. Giving your team the time and resources to tackle challenging tasks or learn new skills means they’re likely to improve at their job. 

But lack of skill variety is currently holding businesses back. For example, 63% of IT leaders say the tech skills crisis is delaying digital transformation — some by nearly a year. And the problem is only getting worse. Companies that don’t invest in job enrichment are actively falling behind.

The fix? Give employees new challenges, access to skills training, and a voice in shaping their roles. When you allow your people to grow, you’ll add value to the individual and your business.

5. Enhanced innovation and creativity

Innovation isn’t a given; when this is missing, companies fall behind. In fact, 87% of companies cite turning ideas into business outcomes as a top obstacle.

If you want your business to stay competitive, giving employees time to flex their creative muscles in their roles is the solution.

For example, 3M has a “15% culture” that allows employees to set work time aside to pursue innovative ideas that excite them. And thanks to this culture of innovation, the Post-It Note was born. 

“Hire good people and leave them alone,” says William McKnight, former 3M president and chairman of the board. “Delegate responsibility and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative.”

6. Positive workplace culture

Relationships in the workplace significantly influence employees’ satisfaction — especially those with their managers. 39% of an employee’s job satisfaction is attributed to their workplace relationships. And, 86% of workers’ satisfaction with their interpersonal connections is specifically tied to their relationships with management, McKinsey found.

When employees feel more connected and valued, their sense of purpose and overall well-being increases. That’s how you get healthy, supportive company cultures where employees are productive and want to progress within the organization rather than beyond it.

Why do so many businesses struggle with job enrichment?

It sounds pretty simple. Give employees more meaningful work, and they’ll be more engaged, work harder, and produce those business results. But in reality, many companies hit a few bumps when trying to implement job enrichment. Here are a few common challenges you might encounter, and tips to overcome them (because we’re good like that!)

Resistance to change

🤔 Challenge: It’s hard to shake things up, even when you’re confident your employees will benefit from planned change. Fear of disrupting current workflows, role hierarchies, or the general vibe can stifle growth and innovation and prevent your company and its workers from achieving their best. 

💡 Solution: Try starting with small-scale enrichment initiatives to overcome this paralysis. Pilots can minimize risk and give you insights into what works best with your team. You can build confidence among yourself and your employees and gradually implement more job enrichment strategies.

Limited leadership buy-in

🤔 Challenge: Without leadership support, even the most promising job enrichment initiatives can miss the mark. If decision-makers don’t see the value or understand the impact, your efforts won’t get the resources or traction they need to succeed.

💡 Solution: Make the case with hard facts. Share data and compelling articles (like this blog post you’re reading right now) to highlight how job enrichment directly improves business outcomes. Focus on measurable impact — faster project completion, lower turnover, and increased employee engagement. When leaders see clear, bottom-line benefits, they’ll be far more likely to get on board.

Misaligned roles and skills

🤔 Challenge: If you don’t have the right people doing the right tasks, job enrichment is nearly impossible to achieve. When employees are mismatched, they’ll struggle to take on additional responsibilities or find meaning in their work. That’s why we’re seeing organizations largely shift towards a skills-based hiring approach.

💡 Solution: Toggl Hire helps you align every team member with their role. Our hiring software empowers teams to identify high-performing individuals and even fine-tune the new employee’s role based on the top skills identified in the hiring process.

Poor communication and collaboration

🤔 Challenge: Even the most well-meaning enrichment strategies can fall short if there’s any misunderstanding of expectations between teams. When there’s a disconnect between what’s expected and what’s delivered, employees might feel frustrated and disengaged — the opposite of what you intended.

💡 Solution: Communication is key in this process. Try incorporating regular feedback sessions to clarify expectations and give a platform for open communication. And ask employees how it’s going during performance reviews. This will help everybody maintain alignment and feel more engaged in their work.

A few of our favorite job enrichment strategies

At Toggl Hire, job enrichment is a concept we live and breathe. We continuously test and refine strategies that make work more meaningful and rewarding for our teams. And (luckily for us) we’ve seen firsthand how the right approach boosts the entire employee experience.

Now, we’re sharing the greatest hits of what we’ve learned, along with practical tips you can use to implement these strategies within your own organization. Try these ideas out for size:

Encourage employee autonomy

Remove those eagle eyes and take a step back from micromanaging (trust us, it’s doing more harm than good). You should delegate decision-making tasks to the team members you hired to perform in their roles. For example, instead of dictating every single step to your software developer and subjecting them to a workday full of monotony, give them the freedom to choose the best coding approach. 

This autonomy lets employees’ skills and creativity shine through while fostering trust and accountability — two things every healthy workplace has. You’ll build a team of go-getters rather than simple task followers.

Offer training and development opportunities

Helping employees improve their skills through development programs and cross-training benefits them and your business. Workers can contribute more to the organization when they acquire new skills and knowledge. At the same time, they’re progressing professionally and advancing their career, which is also great for them. Your business will remain competitive as you develop internal talent — it’s a win-win.

Introduce variety into your job roles

Keeping work fresh and engaging is key to boosting motivation and skill development. One way to do this? Periodic task or role rotations. Diversifying responsibilities allows employees to stay challenged, expand their skill sets, and avoid the monotony that leads to disengagement.

If your organization is dynamic and cross-functional, this approach can be great as employees benefit from exposure to different tasks and departments.

However, if all your job designs are highly specialized and require a lot of expertise and experience, rotations may not always be practical. In these cases, consider gradual skill expansion — introducing new challenges within existing roles to keep employees growing without disrupting key workflows.

Recognize and reward contributions

Keep your team motivated by recognizing their successes. Promotions, bonuses, and even simple shoutouts are a great way to recognize workers and improve morale. To make recognition effective, be timely and specific, highlighting exactly what the employee did well.

Recognition should be consistent and fair — your efforts can have the opposite effect if employees feel that acknowledgment is biased or unbalanced between team members. 

Align tasks with individual strengths

To create perfect fits for individuals and your team, tailor your roles to match employees’ unique abilities. Toggl Hire helps you identify their strengths through skill-based assignments so you can see what each successful candidate brings to the table. When you align tasks with natural talents, employees naturally feel more engaged, fulfilled, and want to succeed. What could be better?

Plus, taking a personalized approach maximizes each person’s potential while simultaneously fostering a high-performing work environment. 

Employee satisfaction starts with hiring the right employees in the first place

You can’t enrich jobs if you’re hiring the wrong people from the start. Employees thrive when their skills and potential align with their roles, not when they’re hired on a resume buzzword match.

And that’s exactly what Toggl Hire is for. Our platform excels at identifying top talent through skills-first assessments, making it easier for businesses to match employees with duties. 

With data-driven hiring, organizations can place candidates in the right roles and fine-tune their tasks to keep them engaged. We live in a time where employee satisfaction and productivity are necessary to build a competitive business.

Make this work for you by trying Toggl Hire for free and build a workforce that’s skilled, deeply engaged, and ready to drive your business forward.

Ever sat down to start a project only to remember you wanted to check the price of something on Amazon? 20 minutes and three unnecessary purchases later, you’re still not working.

92% of employers say lost focus is the top productivity problem in the modern workplace. And when employees are distracted, this affects overall team performance, morale, company profitability, and overall business success. The list goes on.

The good news? With the right strategies, we can reduce or eliminate workplace distractions entirely. This guide takes a closer look at the biggest distractions employees face in 2025 and some practical tips on how to reclaim everyone’s focus.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• The average employee takes 23+ minutes to recover from an interruption or distraction. This is known as the “cognitive switching penalty” — and it costs businesses billions.
• The biggest culprits are chatty coworkers, work-related notifications, cell phones and social media, and burnout.
• Remote work is not a distraction playground — 62% of managers feel their teams are more productive when working remotely or in a hybrid model.
• Time tracking tools can help time block and protect deep work while providing insights into interruptions or distraction patterns.
• Toggl Track can optimize your time and minimize distractions, no matter your work environment.

How distracted are workers these days?

The answer might shock you. 90% of employees are interrupted once per day, with almost one in four employees reporting being distracted over six times daily.

What might seem like an innocent interruption from a well-meaning colleague costs significantly more than the two minutes it took to answer their question. Research from the University of California Irvine shows it takes our brains about 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus on a task after an interruption. That’s because of what brain scientists call the “cognitive switching penalty”.

Basically, every time our brains are interrupted, we must regain context on the task we were working on. Think of it as a cognitive “loading” time. This is also why multitasking is notoriously inefficient — the same concept applies when switching unrelated tasks. Over the day, this “context-switching,” as it’s called, places a huge energy toll on our brains.

Big picture: Companies are losing small fortunes to distractions, an estimated $650 billion per year in the US.

The most common distraction in the workplace is…

……chatty coworkers. Workers contend with a host of different distractions. But 70% of workers say social yapping drained their focus more than anything else, according to Insightful’s report on “Lost Focus: The Cost Of Distractions On Productivity In The Modern Workplace.”

In an office, this might look like a colleague coming up and asking for help with a certain tool or document. They’ve already interrupted you — but they mean well and need help, so you invite them to sit. They settle in next to you, and you start resolving together. But as you’re discussing the work, you start chatting about other things (you know…the weather, the weekend, the kids), and suddenly, you’ve spiraled into a concentration dead zone, likely distracting those around you, too.

Unfortunately, there’s a virtual version of this for remote workers. An invite to a spontaneous Slack Huddle or repetitive notifications from colleagues who don’t understand digital boundaries can kill your focus instantly. If the team group chat starts diverging into gifs and memes, it’s hard to get back on track.

Other common workplace distractions

Losing focus at work isn’t always as obvious as a coworker stopping by to chat. Sometimes, distractions creep in without us even realizing it, pulling our attention away bit by bit. Here are some more to watch out for:

Constant notifications

48% of workers are interrupted by a notification every 30 minutes, and 45% of these notifications aren’t relevant to their jobs.

Our reliance on digital tools to complete our work means we’re juggling dozens of apps and tabs simultaneously. Slack, social media, a project manager, email, calendar, analytic tools, databases — our workflow is littered with software — and it comes with a lot of noise.

AI is an obvious solution many companies are exploring. According to Unily’s Digital Noise Impact report, 62% of employees believe AI can help them prioritize workplace notifications. Unily is looking at building an intranet super-app that consolidates and organizes your notifications.

Social media temptations

15% of workers admit to losing three to five hours daily to smartphone notifications and social media feeds. The lure of social media and ‘just checking’ what’s happening make platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok a quick escape that derails productivity.

Social media is designed to hook us — but beyond that, the curiosity around an unresolved notification carries mental weight. That cognitive mental load can lead to low-level anxiety, mental clutter, more procrastination, and less productivity.

Aside from the obvious strategies, like monitoring usage, activating “do not disturb” mode, turning off notifications, or deleting the apps themselves, companies can take more systemic and proactive approaches to combat this.

In an interview with People Management, managing director of Executive Connexions Steve Nicholls, suggests, “Foster a workplace culture that respects personal boundaries and encourages regular digital detoxes,” adding: “Leaders should model these behaviors, showing that it’s okay to disconnect from digital tools to concentrate on important tasks.”

Multitasking

Multitasking has the same effect on your brain as interruptions — research has shown humans can’t really do it. That’s because switching tasks drain focus and increases errors (in fact, studies show it takes longer to complete tasks when multitasking).

Instead, train yourself to maintain focus on a single task to deliver high-quality, error-free work. This can be hard since it’s easy to fall into the “busy, therefore productive” trap. But it’s a TRAP. Try these instead:

• Adopt the Pomodoro method (25 minutes of work, followed by a five-minute break) to stay on task
• Use the Covey Matrix to eliminate non-essential tasks from your to-do list and prioritize the rest effectively
• Take breaks every 90 minutes. Research into human cognition suggests the ideal length of time for concentrated work is around 90 minutes, followed by a 20-minute break. This aligns with our brain’s natural basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC.)

Unnecessary meetings

Let’s be clear: Standing meetings for the sake of standing meetings aren’t doing anyone any good.

If your meetings lack:

• An objective
• An agenda
• Action points and ownership

…they’re probably a waste of time.

Employees waste 79 hours a year in inefficient meetings, which tank their morale and productivity and cost the company about $9,000 per employee per year.

Intriguingly, meetings are more distracting in person (cited as the fourth worst distraction) than remote settings (considered the eighth worst distraction).

Ideally, organizations should normalize having boundaries around time blocks designed for deep work. Try implementing these “do not disturb” periods throughout the work day. Another approach is to try a company-wide “No Meeting Mondays” day.

If you really can’t avoid scheduling a meeting, make sure it’s short, well-defined, with a clear aim and agenda, and aligns the next steps with your expected outcomes.

Cluttered workspaces

Have you ever felt like you just can’t think in a messy space? There’s neuroscience to back that up.

Our brains like order and predictability. When visual clutter exists, the disorder competes for your attention. This means messy spaces can significantly reduce your ability to focus. Even something as simple as devoting five minutes to organizing your things and clearing away any mess could help you finish your project faster.

Political changes (or news in general…)

Non-stop news cycles can distract employees with breaking news, especially during major political or global events. In fact, 61% of employees agree that changes in their country’s political environment make them less engaged and more distracted at work.

Be mindful that employees have an increased risk of burnout during times of political turmoil or important election years.

With sensitive topics like politics, it’s important to design a clear company policy. For example, you might signpost 1:1 support for employees feeling distressed about current events. You might also clarify that employees should not discuss political events with their peers. The right balance depends on your organizational values and culture.

Burnout

82% of employees say they felt burnt out to some degree in 2024, with younger generations bearing the brunt — 87% for Gen Z, 85% for Millennials, and 57% for Baby Boomers, respectively.

Burnout makes workers more susceptible to workplace distractions and can lead to decreased productivity and morale across the team.

The main causes of burnout are systemic — long hours, overwhelming workloads, and difficulty balancing work and personal life. Broader solutions are needed to address this, such as:

• Creating holistic benefits packages, including mental health budgets and personal days
• Building a culture of openness and support around burnout, not fear and shame
• Setting realistic work expectations for employees
• Ensuring leaders value work-life balance and set a good example

Spoiler: Remote work isn’t to blame

Contrary to what the return-to-office crowd might have you think, remote work isn’t the root of all evil — in fact, it’s less distracting than in-office work.

A recent analysis showed remote work protects 62 hours’ worth of work that in-office teams lose to interruptions.

Major distractions in the office (think noisy coworkers, pointless meetings, and snack breaks) are the main culprits behind lost productivity. Open offices once praised for collaboration, are actually a breeding ground for short breaks and office gossip.

When structured well, remote work can boost productivity and well-being. Employees can eliminate office distractions and control their environment and work hours, resulting in better focus.

Can time management solve digital distractions?

Poor time management makes us more susceptible to digital distractions because our brains seek immediate rewards. Without a plan, we react to emails, notifications, and social media and put important work on the back burner.

Minimizing distractions is an uphill battle — we’re literally fighting against our brain’s reward system. Get around this by setting focus blocks or batching similar activities to boost efficiency. For example, you could limit email or Slack checks to scheduled times to prevent constant interruptions.

Effective time management is a skill and mindset shift that helps us regain control over our work, attention, and focus.

Create time blocks with Toggl Track

Toggl Track enables you to prioritize focus-heavy tasks while keeping interruptions manageable. Our platform empowers distracted teams to:

• Identify and manage distractions by seeing exactly where time is spent productively and not.
• Pinpoint repetitive interruptions or excessive multitasking habits in real-time.
• Reduce the temptation of distraction by keeping you accountable through transparent team time-tracking.

How much will you grow in a distraction-free workplace? Implement the tips we shared here and find out!

If you’d like to take it a step further, take your team’s time into your own hands with a free demo of Toggl Track.

64% of HR professionals say it’s getting harder to find qualified talent. Our take? The right candidates are out there, but your recruitment strategies may attract the wrong profiles.

Passive candidates are skilled professionals who aren’t actively job hunting, but you can probably entice them with the right offer. They’re usually well-established in their current roles, which makes them less likely to apply to your everyday job postings.

To attract these top-tier candidates, you need to refine your sourcing techniques and get creative. Not sure where to start? Here are 23 creative sourcing strategies to land these qualified candidates.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Only half of the US population is extremely satisfied with their job, which means a lot of workers are open to new positions.
• Being visible on platforms like Tinder, TikTok, or YouTube can help you appeal to different generations of job seekers.
• Before getting creative, it’s important to nail the basics of a good job posting — a clear description, salary range, and benefits.
• Toggl Hire makes it easy to turn passive leads into engaged employees.

Hold on, why focus on attracting passive candidates?

One of the most commonly asked questions when discussing passive candidate sourcing strategies is, why even bother?

Here’s the deal: 73% of the global workforce is passively looking for another job and would be open to a change in their work situation. If you focus solely on active candidates, you’ll miss out on the majority of the global talent pool.

Need some more persuasion?  

• Passive candidates aren’t actively pursuing a new position, so they won’t be interviewing with anyone else. This means less competition for you when it’s time to extend a job offer. 
• They’re also highly unlikely to lie or exaggerate on their resumes as they’re reasonably content with their job (for the most part) and aren’t desperate to find their next gig.
• And finally, when you target passive candidates, you can zone in on their specific skill sets. You know exactly who you’re hiring and what they currently do in their position. So, you’ll spend less time and resources on training.

23 creative candidate sourcing strategies

There’s a vast pool of excellent candidates for your next opening — you just have to know how to reach them. If your same old, same old sourcing techniques haven’t been working, try these creative strategies out for size. 

1. Find professional talent on LinkedIn with carousel posts

LinkedIn is still the best place to find professional candidates. But what’s the best way to attract candidates on the platform, rather than manually browsing through endless impressive LinkedIn profiles?

Embrace your creative side and try carousel posts. You’ve seen them around LinkedIn: They’re basically pages of a PDF that you can easily click through on a post. Create one that highlights the skills needed for a specific job or advice from current job holders.

2. Use Facebook paid ads to source passive candidates

This may surprise some, but 39% of recruiters use Facebook to seek out top talent. Why? Compared to LinkedIn, job boards, and other sourcing channels, sourcing candidates on Facebook is often cheaper, faster and can reach more (passive) high-quality candidates. For example, you might catch the eye of a passive job seeker doom-scrolling Facebook during non-working hours. 

There are many ways to find candidates on Facebook. You can:

• Source candidates manually using creative search queries. 
• Create an appealing Facebook job post and share it with your followers. 
• Boost your job posts to reach a wider audience. 
• Share your job posts on Facebook groups and communities. 
• Turn your job posts into an advertising campaign to specifically target the right kind of people (the most efficient tactic.) 

For example, software development company Mooncascade received close to 250 candidates in a few days simply by advertising the post on Facebook and Linkedin.

3. Use podcasts to stand out

Getting on a relevant podcast gives you a chance to introduce potential candidates to your work culture and employee benefits in more detail.

Find Your Dream Job, Career Cloud, and The Job Hunting Podcast all focus on helping candidates land their next position. Reach out to shows like these to ask about sponsorships or if they can mention your organization. They already have a captivated audience of people hunting for their next position. 

4. Attract candidates with work culture videos on YouTube

What better recruiting strategy than to meet your target candidates where they’re already hanging out online? For WizzAir, that place was YouTube. Under the umbrella campaign of #IamWIZZcrew, WizzAir used its YouTube channel to easily connect with anyone interested in pursuing a career at WizzAir. The employer posted details about the company’s aviation careers, and tips on pilot and cabin crew recruitment.

Potential applicants can also find thousands of pictures, posts, and tags on various social media channels created by many of the enthusiastic crew members showing their dedication to the company, passion for aviation, and WizzAir’s company culture.

5. Use Tinder to attract millennials

Okay, before you close this tab, hear us out…This one might sound too “far-fetched” for most, but creative agency Fetch used Tinder to find an intern — with great results. In one day, they received 270 potential applicants (Tinder matches) from whom they asked for their best pick-up line. Next, they spent three weeks talking to ‌applicants and narrowing the talent pool down to the five best candidates.

Fetch explained the rationale behind its unusual recruitment choice:

“New York City is a very crowded space, with every agency looking for top talent. We needed an intern, and we didn’t just want to be another posting on one of the numerous job boards. So, we thought Tinder would be quite an innovative way of looking for an intern.”

If this piques your interest, why not try Bumble, OkCupid, eHarmony, Match, Kippo, or one of the other top-rated dating apps to engage candidates?

6. Use Snapchat to better appeal to young candidates 

JPMorgan created its own geo-filters for UK and US high school and university events. Its strategy demonstrated to students that you don’t need to follow a traditional path to start a career in banking. The employer highlighted different roles and jobs candidates might not have considered when looking at the banking industry. Doing this on a platform that millennials trust made this even more powerful for JPMorgan.

7. Leverage TikTok to appeal to Gen-Z 

Many companies use TikTok to increase brand recognition. From Duolingo making entertaining content around its beloved owl mascot to RyanAir’s self-deprecating posts, brands have used this popular social media platform to gain a cult-like following.

TikTok is also a great channel for recruiting potential candidates from a younger, tech-savvy (and mostly Gen-Z) demographic. You might film your staff taking part in challenges, participate in the latest trending hashtags, or partner with employees and influencers to boost your presence.

8. Join public Slack channels

Beyond being incredible for team communication, Slack is also great for connecting with like-minded people and potential passive candidates. Many public Slack groups function as professional networks, and you can join and share your job posts in some for free.

For example, Superpath has a Slack community with more than 20,000 content marketers. You can interact with job seekers, network passively, and even post your job openings in forums.

9. Sponsor a niche newsletter

Sponsoring newsletters tailored toward a niche market can be a great way to find new hires. By targeting an industry or interest group, you’re more likely to engage potential job seekers who aren’t actively seeking job openings.

Just like with a Slack group, check the newsletter aligns with your company’s values and goals. This will help you gain the right exposure and promote your job openings directly to the most relevant candidates.

10. Host a competition

To target passive job seekers, get creative and hold a competition related to the role you need to fill. For a writer, host a short story competition. Need a new graphic designer? Put out a request for a specific design. Reward the winners with a cash prize, and connect with them to see what their professional future looks like (and whether you might be part of it.)

Spotify took things even further by incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into its competition-related recruiting strategy. They held a diverse hackathon with an equal number of male and female participants. Not only did this help them build a diverse talent pipeline, it also showcased their company values. 

11. Grab applicants’ attention with short skills challenges

Another creative strategy for sourcing passive candidates is to make the application process simple, fun, and competitive with a skills test.

Instead of asking applicants to send in their resumes, start the recruitment process with a short skills quiz. This pre-employment testing is also popular among workers themselves, with seven out of 10 believing employers should focus on skills and work experience over degrees. 

Use skills challenges to simplify your application process and source passive, qualified candidates.

The beauty of using a 10-15 minute skills challenge in the first part of the recruiting process is speedier candidate screening. But it also helps you attract those candidates who aren’t actively looking for a new job. Drafting up a resume and a cover letter takes a lot of time and effort. However, taking a short test to figure out your skill level and learn more about the job opportunity removes the barriers to applying for jobs.

12. Offer your employees referral bonuses

Try motivating your employees to share any open roles on social media. You can even create an internal employee referral program leaderboard to gamify the incentives for more referrals.

To make life easier, there are even special platforms focusing on employee referrals. Try out ERIN for free software setup and integrations, or pick Boon if you want to allow your employees to make referrals through Slack.

Experiment with different types of rewards. If cash isn’t working, try offering an exclusive trip — or even follow in InMobi’s steps and offer the chance to win a Vespa.

It was a while ago now, but after switching from cash rewards to trips and motorbikes, InMobi saw a significant boost in employee referrals, doubling the number of workers sourced through this method. They parked the InMobi-themed Vespa in front of their San Francisco office as a physical reminder that they could win the bike simply by referring someone. 

13. Set up a happy hour 

Happy hour doesn’t have to be all about cocktails and appetizers. You can also host a more relaxed and inviting event with pastries and coffee. It’s a great, low-pressure way to tell interested job seekers more about your company. No matter what the event is, you’re at a competitive advantage when you get ‌prospective talent in the room.

Post about the meet-up on your socials and encourage your current team members to attend as well. These events can also serve as a casual time for informal interviews. Companies like Salesforce have successfully hosted happy hours during conferences to connect with potential candidates in a more relaxed environment.

14. Host a virtual event

If you’re a remote company, it might be hard to encourage qualified candidates to engage with you in person. So, meet them where they’re at with your sourcing efforts and host a virtual event on Zoom. 

Make sure there’s a good balance of social and professional. You don’t want it to feel like boring online office hours, but you also want enough time to promote your company. Take inspiration from Verizon, who collaborated with Women’s CoLab to host a virtual event in honor of International Women’s Day. 

15. Set up a booth at college job fairs

One of the most effective ways to enhance your recruitment efforts is to attract fresh, young talent at college job fairs. This is a great talent-sourcing opportunity that allows you to grow your brand with a younger demographic that’s looking for new job opportunities. 

Remember, you’re pitching yourself among a sea of other companies. Take the time to prepare thoroughly and find a unique way to engage students. Consider offering freebies like custom pens or T-shirts to make a lasting impression. You can also put up your company’s slogan or motto, like New York Life, to give prospects an immediate glimpse at what your company stands for.

16. Organize community service projects

Organize community service projects and invite potential candidates to join. This builds a positive employer brand and allows you to connect with the right candidates in a meaningful way. In such a crowded job market, doing something meaningful like this can help your organization really stand out and even improve retention rates.

Best Buy employees volunteer at everything from museum fairs to after-school programs. This approach also engages current team members in the recruitment process. They get to chat with potential job seekers while also partaking in new opportunities that give back to the community.

17. Go bold with out-of-home advertising

Place ads in public spaces like billboards, bus stops, or subway stations with eye-catching visuals and succinct messaging to communicate your company’s culture and values. Target high-traffic areas that are industry-specific to you or your target demographic. 

Place them around your head office and — to be a little bit cheeky — around your competitors’ offices.

Use technology, like QR codes, on signs placed at eye level — like posters or bus-stop advertisements that the user can scan. These QR codes should link to the open position or jobs portal.

18. Post content on Medium

Expand your audience and attract top talent by publishing on the blogging platform Medium. Basecamp CEO Jason Fried used Medium to generate interest in Basecamp while sharing his thoughts on design, business, and technology. 

Encourage your co-founders and team leaders to post about challenges and their solutions. This strategy allows potential candidates to learn more about your team and organization without any strings attached. With this approach, you might catch the attention of a passive candidate unhappy with their workplace and intrigued by how you run and structure yours.

19. Showcase your employees, managers, and C-suite

Promote employees’ personalities, talents, and stories on social media and your website. For example, Automattic features employees in videos on their YouTube playlist, Harvest showcases employee stories on their website, and HelpScout’s blog is primarily written by employees. 

This kind of recruitment sourcing strategy is typically low-effort, great for brand recognition, and appeals to a younger crowd. Gen Z enjoys short-form, authentic videos, so a day-in-the-life or behind-the-scenes might just be the perfect way to reduce your time-to-hire with the younger generation.

20. Use your own product as a sourcing tool

Spotify’s hiring manager, Andre Hellström, uses the platform creatively to find new talent. He created a public playlist called “Join the band?” where the order of the song names makes up the job posting description for a frontend developer position. Listen to the playlist here.

Non-Spotify recruiters can rely on other creative ways to use their product to source candidates. If you’re a food and beverage company, you could list your hiring needs on your product packaging. A tech company could create a public GitHub repository with a README file that outlines the job description and requirements.

21. Promote dev jobs on your site’s browser console

When a developer wants to check the code behind any website, view the site’s CSS files, or check anything else code-related, they’ll open the site’s console. So, what better way to grab their attention than adding a big “We’re hiring” message right in the console?

Take a look at Reddit, for example. They’re well aware that many people browse their site when they should actually be working. So, they came up with a clever tagline and promoted their open jobs in the site’s console.

22. Attract talents with a catchy Wifi name

If people connect to your office WiFi regularly, why not change your network name to a catchy recruiting headline and see if you get any new applicants this way? You never know who might stumble upon it.

23. Put up a photo booth

Who doesn’t love a fun, themed picture? You can set up an interactive photo booth with props related to your industry. Candidates sharing their photos on social media will increase your visibility and make for a strong employer brand. 

NETZSCH Pumps & Systems put up a “social branding wall” and encouraged visitors to take pictures. To encourage social sharing, they also ran a raffle for AirPods. 

Expert tip: Don’t forget the basics

This article is all about creativity, but let’s not forget the basics. If you’re not already doing these, you really need to refine your hiring process before you start getting fancy. Here’s what you should have nailed down first:

• Write descriptive and catchy job descriptions: A well-written job ad is your first and best chance to grab attention. If your job descriptions are bland and generic or have subtle biases, you’re already losing out on top, diverse talent. It’s important to avoid masculine-coded language, like “assertive” or “dominant.” Use this free gender decoder tool to double-check your descriptions for biased language.
• Add the salary range to your job posting: Excluding the salary range from the job posting is a rookie mistake. It’s a surefire way to attract a flood of candidates whose expectations are way off base. Many US states have pay transparency laws requiring employers to post expected salaries. Failure to do so can result in fines.
• Mention the company’s perks and benefits: Even the smallest perks can make a big difference. Whether it’s free coffee and snacks, flexible hours, or a relaxed dress code, highlight these in your job postings. If you’re not doing this, you’re missing out on a simple way to stand out from the competition.
• Use your public website to let people know you’re hiring: A great way to inform people about your job openings is to advertise it on your website’s front page. Make it clear and easy for potential candidates to find and apply to your jobs.

Get these basics right, and then you can start thinking about the fun and creative stuff (like filming the CEO doing silly dances). But seriously, if you’re not doing these, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.

How to build a great employer brand with Toggl Hire

A strong employer brand attracts both passive and high-quality active candidates. Yet, too many companies struggle because they either botch the basics‌ — ‌like writing vague job descriptions or omitting salary ranges‌ — ‌or they simply don’t know how to engage candidates. 

That’s where Toggl Hire can help. We’ll help you nail the fundamentals of a great brand by engaging and converting those passive jobseekers with a fantastic candidate experience. Applicants love taking our tests — they’re quick and user-friendly, and feedback is instant, so no one is ever kept in the dark about their progress. For recruiters, features like ready-made skills tests, automated shortlisting, and objective candidate filtering make it quick and easy to source the best talent using a fair process. 

Ready to elevate your hiring efforts? Try Toggl Hire for free today and turn passive job seekers into satisfied, engaged employees. 

We are unifying the reporting experience within Toggl Track! Our goal is to provide deeper profitability and productivity analysis, greater flexibility in how you analyze data, and easy ways to customize reports you need.

Key Changes Coming Soon

• Reports, Analytics, and Insights will now be organized into dedicated tabs: Summary, Detailed, Workload, Profitability, and My Reports.
• “Weekly” reports will be renamed “Workload” reports. You will be able to analyze your workload data with custom date ranges, going beyond weekly timesheets.
• “Insights” will be part of the “Profitability” tab, offering a more powerful and multi-level profitability analysis. Break down profitability by member, project, client, and more properties.
• “Analytics” will move under “My Reports” tab, where you can access past custom reports, create new ones, and manage all saved reports in one place.
• Updated Filters will enable you to analyze data right in Toggl Track, without time-consuming exports. Use 11+ properties, 8 condition options, and AND/OR logic for deeper insights.
• You will get more flexibility with expanded properties to group and stack your data.

Explore key improvements in the video below.

Find answers to FAQs here to help you prepare for a smooth transition, including:

• Will I still have access to the same data?
• What happens to my existing reports?
• What should I do if I run into issues?

Let’s explore what you will be able to do in each Reports tab.

Summary Report

👉 Get a quick high-level overview

Instantly access key productivity and profitability metrics, including total tracked hours, billable vs. non-billable work, total billable hour value, and performance trends.

Example of the Summary Report

Detailed Report

👉 Get a comprehensive view of all Time Entries

The Detailed Report provides a full view of time entries. Using Filters, you can conduct a comprehensive time entry audit, verify billable hours, and prepare accurate invoices.

Here’s how to make the most of it:

• Identify missing data in time entries by using the “is empty” condition in Filters.
• Exclude non-billable activities by applying “Does not contain” or “is not” filters — perfect for omitting meetings or internal admin time.
• Review related time entries together with the “Starts with” condition.
• Detect anomalies by filtering out time entries shorter than 1 minute or longer than 8 hours using the Duration filter.

Workload Report

👉 Timesheet view to evaluate your resources

Workload reports help you understand how time is distributed across your team, projects, and clients.

• Visualize workload by time or revenue: Assess team workload based on tracked time or revenue generated.
• Break down workload by Member or User group, Project, Client, Task or Tags. See where resources are allocated and optimize distribution.
• Revenue-based workload analysis: Identify high-revenue contributors and balance workload for improved profitability.

Profitability Report

👉 Get multi-level profitability analysis

We’ve made significant improvements to how you can analyze profitability. Analyze profitability, revenue, and labor costs — breaking it down by Members, User Groups, Projects, Clients, Tasks, or Tags for a more detailed view.

This way, you are now more equipped to improve pricing, staffing, and project budgeting decisions.

My Reports

👉 Build custom reports to fit your stakeholders’ specific needs

Here you’ll find all your saved and custom reports, including those previously created with Analytics.

• Customize reports to display only the most relevant data.
• Visualize your data with a range of options to present insights clearly.
• Share reports from Toggl Track directly with your team and stakeholders.

A custom report: End-of-month financials, featuring client data

Want Early Access to the New Reports Experience?

Join our Beta program!

We’re rolling out this new reporting experience in phases, starting with our Beta users. Want early access? Join the Beta program by going to your Profile settings and enabling Beta features.

Keep in mind that Beta users will also receive access in batches — so if you don’t see it right away, new Reports experience will be available to you in the upcoming weeks!

Reports Pricing

With the new experience rolling out, here’s how reporting features show across different plans.

Note for Free users: Custom report creation will no longer be available on the Free plan. You’ll still see the titles of your previous custom reports, but they won’t be accessible or editable. Upgrade here to unlock full control and create reports your way.

Here is a detailed Reports pricing breakdown.

Help Us Make Toggl Reports Better

It’s your feedback that helps us create a more powerful time tracking experience for you. Share your thoughts on the new Reports experience by answering three quick questions here.

Global productivity has jumped sixfold in 30 emerging economies over the past 25 years, which sounds great — but it doesn’t tell the whole story. 

In many other economies, McKinsey reports that productivity growth has stalled since the global financial crisis, and some risk never catching up. As organizations face mounting challenges, from economic uncertainty to shifting workforce dynamics, the key to staying competitive lies in unlocking the full potential of your workforce.

But that’s easier said than done. Unproductive employees exist, and trying to motivate them can be seriously frustrating for managers. This guide explores the cost of low productivity in more detail and provides actionable strategies to identify, measure, and improve it. 

TL;DR — Key Takeaways 

• Productivity baselines provide a clear benchmark for measuring employee performance so companies can easily identify inefficiencies and set realistic targets to improve. Each industry and business relies on different metrics, such as billable hours or units produced, to track success.
• Low productivity costs are unique to your company, but any dip beneath your baseline expectations could mean thousands in lost revenue over a year.  
• Spotting unproductive employees involves recognizing clear signs, including “fauxductivity,” a growing TikTok trend in which employees appear busy but don’t achieve meaningful output. Managers must approach these signs with curiosity and support rather than point fingers at their talent.
• Micromanaging is never the solution to overall productivity issues. Instead of stifling employees with constant oversight, managers should provide clarity, trust, and the right tools to set them up for success. 
• Unproductivity sounds like an employee issue, but employers and business owners can turn the situation around by building supportive environments, setting clear goals, and creating continuous development opportunities.
• Time tracking tools like Toggl Track transform productivity by providing clear insights into time management. Managers can use this information to make data-backed decisions without invasive monitoring.

What’s a ‘good’ productivity baseline?

A productivity baseline is a standard or benchmark companies can use to measure employee performance against expected output. When this baseline is well-defined, it helps managers objectively assess individual and team productivity as either above or below the target level. From here, they can spot any bottlenecks and work out how to improve the situation.  

But how do you define what “good” productivity looks like in your organization? The right baseline will depend on your specific goals, employee roles, and industry standards. There are no cookie cutters here; productivity baselines must be tailored to your company. 

Examples of how productivity baselines are measured in different industries

Each industry’s productivity baseline is influenced by its unique workflows, challenges, and goals. By identifying industry-specific metrics, companies can establish realistic expectations and continuously improve their business productivity: 

• Technology: Software firms might use agile metrics, such as code commits, resolved tickets, or feature deployments, to set productivity standards. 
• Healthcare: Hospitals and other healthcare institutions could focus on patient outcomes by measuring patients seen per hour, successful procedures, or accurate diagnostics. 
• Sales: Teams often set targets based on quarterly or annual goals, such as the number of closed deals, revenue generated, or calls made. 
• Customer support: Teams aim for high service levels and quick resolutions by tracking metrics related to resolved tickets, response time, or customer satisfaction scores.
• Manufacturing: Top-performing factories set baselines based on machine capacity, workforce efficiency, and output data, such as units produced per hour. 
• Consulting: Firms might measure by billable hours logged per consultant, often benchmarking against industry averages and internal targets to ensure profitability and client satisfaction.
• Marketing: Think completed campaigns, leads generated, or conversions achieved, with agencies setting baselines by analyzing previous campaign data and client expectations.

How much is low productivity really costing you?

Low productivity (and the disengagement that causes it) comes at a cost. Collectively, McKinsey puts this cost between $228 million and $355 million per year for a median-sized S&P 500 company. Stretch that over five years, and you’re looking at $1.1 billion in lost value. 

But the real impact of low productivity is felt in the heartbeat of your daily business. 

• Low team morale: Nothing deflates a high-performing team faster than watching their efforts get drowned out by underperformers who fly under the radar. 
• Delayed projects: When productivity dips, deadlines slip — and so do key business opportunities and client trust.
• High turnover rates: Employee burnout spreads quickly when top talent picks up the slack for disengaged teammates, pushing them to seek opportunities elsewhere. The proof? Some 3.2 million US employees quit their roles in December 2024, leaving countless teams scrambling to manage the extra work and wondering if it’s worth the effort.
• Decreased revenue: Poor productivity means lost sales, diminished service quality, and a shrinking bottom line.
• Missed innovation opportunities: Every minute patching your productivity gaps is a minute stolen from your company’s ability to innovate.

How to spot unproductive employees

Unproductivity doesn’t always announce itself loudly — often, it’s a slow, annoying drip you can’t ignore. Spotting it early is key, but remember that it’s not about pointing fingers; it’s about recognizing the signals, digging deeper, and understanding the root cause before taking action.

Be aware of “fauxductivity” 

Fake activity is a work trend flooding social media. This “fauxductivity” is the practice of employees appearing busier than they are. For example, by loudly typing at their computer, exhaling loudly as though exasperated, or walking quickly around the office as if in a rush to their next meeting. 

@thelendingtree

Look busy do nothing😂 . . . #lookbusydonothing❗️ #busy #actbusy #donothing (office, funny, memes, funny memes, office memes, officefun)

♬ original sound – The Lending Tree | Dubai 🇦🇪

Workhuman’s analysis of 3,000 employees in the UK, US, and Ireland reports that Fortune 500 CEOs rank low productivity as the biggest organizational challenge, and 48% of managers believe fake work activity is a common issue on their team. Yet, managers are more likely to indulge in fauxductivity than their direct reports.

Some 38% of C-suite execs and 37% of managers admit to engaging in this behavior, compared to just 32% of non-managers. Clearly, managers need to take a closer look at the behavior they’re modeling. 

Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) Amanda Augustine explains that fake work may be easier to spot in employees who have been forced to return to the office and are trying to regain some semblance of work-life balance. 

“Companies that demand their employees return to the office are sending a message that presence equals productivity; however, the latest TikTok trend indicates this is not the case. The ‘task masking’ trend has come as a reaction to return-to-office mandates; it’s important to recognize that this reflects young professionals’ beliefs that ‘face time’ at work isn’t equal to their outcome and impact.”  

Track missed deadlines 

When employees regularly miss deadlines, this often indicates deeper issues like poor time management, lack of clarity, or disengagement. 

Unfortunately, only 34% of companies currently manage to meet their project deadlines on time, suggesting this is a widespread problem. Keep a close eye on patterns and use tools like Toggl Track to identify bottlenecks and support struggling employees.

Pay attention to disengagement 

Disengaged employees often fly under the radar, but the signs are there: minimal participation in meetings, lack of enthusiasm, and reduced collaboration. 

Gallup finds only 23% of the global workforce is engaged, with disengagement costing companies $8.8 trillion globally. Frequent employee pulse surveys and honest conversations during regular check-ins can help managers re-engage with teams. 

Look out for increased absenteeism 

Every employee needs paid time off to rest and replenish throughout the year. But persistent absenteeism can be a warning sign their well-being is suffering. Burnout, dissatisfaction, and personal challenges can all play a role. Track attendance patterns and offer support to keep your team healthy and present.

Spot declining quality of work 

When top performers start delivering subpar work, it’s time to investigate. Declining quality could signal burnout, lack of motivation, or skill gaps. Some examples include:

• Increased errors in reports
• Inconsistent attention to detail
• Incomplete tasks
• Drop in creativity or innovation
• Missed quality benchmarks
• Negative client feedback
• Lack of initiative

Provide regular feedback, training opportunities, and clear expectations to help employees maintain high standards.

7 reasons employee performance suffers 

Low productivity is often rooted in systemic or leadership challenges. Before jumping to conclusions that your employees are “slacking off,” it’s crucial to examine the bigger picture. Here’s why poor performance can set in and what leaders can do to fix it.

1. Employees have too much busy work 

Busy work refers to tasks that give the illusion of productivity but have little to no meaningful impact on company goals. The endless email threads, redundant meetings, and manual data entry leave employees feeling drained without producing tangible results. Unfortunately, 51% of employees say their work “often” or “always” involves busy work. Alarmingly, 29% estimate that these low-value tasks consume at least a quarter of their week.

This is both frustrating and costly. According to Resume Now, 37% of people report busy work takes up 25–50% of their daily workload, while 10% say it consumes more than half of their time. Add the 44% who have experienced multiple abandoned projects without explanation, and it’s clear that inefficiencies are rife. Even worse, 54% of employees lack a voice in addressing these issues.

2. Managers don’t know how to set clear expectations

Unclear goals and inconsistent messaging are serious productivity killers. Picture a marketing team pouring dozens of work hours into a campaign that wasn’t actually a priority because their manager failed to communicate the quarterly goals. 

Managers can provide specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to avoid this misalignment and set clear expectations.

Example: A marketing manager might set a SMART goal like: “Increase the company’s social media engagement rate by 20% within six months by posting five targeted content pieces per week across LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.”

This goal is: 

• Specific: It focuses on social media engagement
• Measurable: It’s defined by a 20% increase
• Achievable: It’s realistic, based on the available resources
• Relevant: It aligns with the company’s marketing strategy
• Time-bound: It involves a six-month deadline

Without this clarity, even the most talented employees struggle to thrive. As Joel Popoff, CEO of Axwell, puts it, “The easiest way to get people moving in the right direction is to set performance expectations and clear metrics together monthly or weekly. When they take part in the goal-setting process, they feel empowered and motivated.” 

Keith Spencer, Career Expert for Resume Now, adds, “Assessing productivity means focusing on outcomes, which starts with setting clear goals and evaluating deliverables against established standards.”

3. Managers are guilty of micromanaging 

Micromanagement is a surefire way to stifle creativity, kill morale, and create an environment of distrust. According to a Monster poll, 73% of workers consider micromanagement the biggest workplace red flag, with 46% stating it would drive them to quit their employer entirely. 

This toxic management style, where every detail is scrutinized, damages employees’ confidence and autonomy. Research from IngentaConnect highlights that micromanaging managers “strip others of their self-confidence and self-efficacy, leaving them uncertain what they should think, do, or feel without permission.”

Separate research finds millennials, in particular, value autonomy, with 73% stating they prioritize manager trust and opportunities to make their own decisions. 

CEO Nate Banks emphasizes, “Micromanaging is not the same as holding someone accountable. Employees need autonomy and trust, but they also need measurable goals, frequent check-ins, and helpful feedback. Finding the right balance between independence and guidance transforms underperforming employees into productive ones.”

4. Employee burnout is rippling through your team 

The World Health Organization categorized employee burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” in 2019, with fatigue, lack of enthusiasm, and irritability as telltale signs. Long hours, unrealistic deadlines, and lack of support often fuel this chronic problem, making it much worse than a short-term slump.

Recent data is alarming: 48% of workers across Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK, and the US currently struggle with burnout. It’s even more common in women, LGBTQ+ employees, people with disabilities, and deskless workers, with up to 26% higher incidence rates.

Unfortunately, one in four employees experience burnout four or more times each year. 

5. The company work environment is toxic 

A toxic work environment is one of the most significant contributors to low productivity. Studies show that toxic work environments increase stress levels, leading to higher turnover and absenteeism. According to research published in the National Library of Medicine, employees in toxic environments report lower job satisfaction, diminished mental health, and decreased productivity. 

Signs of a toxic environment include: 

• Frequent conflicts
• Lack of support from management
• Favoritism
• Unclear communication
• Overcrowded spaces
• Lack of quiet areas
• Zero focus on wellness 

To foster a healthier work culture, companies must promote open communication, encourage team-building, and focus on creating an environment where team members never want to leave.  

6. Employees don’t feel rewarded for their hard work 

Recognition is the fuel that keeps employees engaged. Without it, even the most dedicated team members can lose motivation. In fact, 83.6% of employees say recognition directly impacts their motivation to succeed at work. 

Younger employees, especially those aged 18-24, are particularly driven by recognition, with 85% saying they would be more productive if their hard work was acknowledged. It doesn’t have to be grand gestures or incentives — a shoutout in a team meeting, personalized feedback, or even an opportunity to take on a new project can boost morale.

The numbers speak for themselves: 77.9% of employees say they’d be more productive with frequent recognition, and 71% admit that more regular praise would make them less likely to leave their jobs. Regular feedback matters too — 98% of employees who receive daily recognition feel valued, compared to only 37% who receive it yearly.

7. Employers have zero data on where time is spent

You can’t fix what you can’t see. When employers don’t have clear data on where time is spent, they’re essentially flying blind and left guessing about why their projects stall or their teams seem overwhelmed. Bottlenecks remain hidden, inefficiencies go unchecked, and productivity suffers. 

Tools like Toggl Track have built-in analytics that deliver real insights into how your team spends its hours — not to micromanage but to help it work smarter. Is the team locked in meetings for too many hours of the week? Are certain tasks eating up more hours than expected? Toggl Track highlights these patterns, giving managers the data they need to reallocate resources and cut unnecessary tasks.

The key to a more productive workforce

Building a productive team isn’t a magic trick. It involves practical strategies to help your team work smarter, stay engaged, and deliver results. Here are six of those strategies you can use to motivate your team. 

1. Inspire your people 

Inspiration drives commitment. Author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek puts it perfectly: 

“We have to inspire people. We have to give them that sense of cause and vision that their work is worth more. We have to make them feel like they matter — that they’re seen and heard and understood. What ends up happening is those people are not only more motivated and inspired, but if they’re offered a better, higher-paying job somewhere else, they turn it down. Because it’s not just about the bonuses and the money; it’s because they would rather be here with these wonderful people.”

One way to inspire employees is to tap into their strengths. The Six Types of Working Genius assessment by Patrick Lencioni helps leaders identify what energizes their team members. Whether it’s invention, discernment, galvanizing, enablement, tenacity, or wonder — knowing what sparks enthusiasm in your employees allows you to assign tasks that align with their natural talents, making them feel valued and motivated every 👏single 👏 day 👏. 

2. Ensure role clarity 

Unproductivity often stems from confusion rather than incompetence. According to Gallup, only 45% of employees know what they’re supposed to be doing at work! So, how can we possibly expect our teams to be productive when less than half understand what we need? 

Damien Filiatrault, CEO of Scalable Path, emphasizes, “Unproductive employees are rarely inherently so. Success starts with clarity and enablement. Make sure every team member knows what their role is, their goals, and how their individual efforts contribute to the overarching objectives.”

Achieve this role clarity by outlining clear job descriptions, setting specific goals, and explaining how each role fits into the company’s bigger picture. This isn’t a one-and-done process. As your company grows, and the scope of each role changes, be sure to update your job descriptions at least annually so they remain relevant. 

3. Monitor processes 

Teams using inefficient processes cannot be productive. Jacob Barnes, Co-Founder of FlowSavvy, puts it simply: “It’s mostly workflows that cause problems, not employees. If people aren’t motivated, there’s usually an issue with the system rather than the individual.”

Processes that are too complex, outdated, or poorly managed can overwhelm employees and reduce efficiency. Sometimes workloads are unbalanced, or employees lack the right tools and training, seriously hindering teamwork. One employee might struggle with a heavy workload, while another may need more training in specific software or time management.

Review workflows regularly to spot inefficiencies, gather feedback from your team, and provide the necessary resources or coaching to help them succeed. A well-monitored process ensures employees can focus on what truly matters without unnecessary roadblocks.

4. Equip employees with tools to succeed 

Without essential tools, training, and systems, even the most capable teams can struggle. Damien Filiatrault advises, “Instead of labeling employees as unproductive, ask, ‘Have I equipped them to succeed?’ When tools and training align with clear expectations, productivity emerges naturally.”

Inefficiency often stems from ambiguity. As Filiatrault notes: 

“Tools such as project management platforms can provide better structure to teams and the organization by enhancing visibility and tracking accountability. Even the best developers and project managers can become disoriented without the right tools to structure tasks and communicate effectively.”

5. Encourage continuous learning 

91% of learning and development pros agree that continuous learning is more important than ever for career success. And this makes sense — when employees acquire new skills, they can quickly adapt to new challenges and contribute more effectively. 

Scalable Path’s Damien Filiatrault agrees. 👇

6. Commit to regular check-ins

Finally, how can you know what your team needs without checking in? Regular team status updates create space for open communication, feedback, and support. 

Jacob Barnes, Co-Founder of FlowSavvy, suggests, “Find out what’s going on through regular meetings and tailor your efforts to the individual. Create performance improvement plans and mock-up weekly calendars together so employees can get those visuals of what they should do, when they should do it, and how long it should take to accomplish each task.”

Need an extra tip? Barnes continues, “Have the employee take notes throughout the week on their progress and then schedule regular follow-up meetings to revisit the plan, make adjustments as needed, and celebrate successes together.”

Improve employee productivity with Toggl Track

Toggl Track helps teams understand how their time is spent without invading anyone’s privacy. Employees have full autonomy over their data — they control all their own time entries and can share, adjust, or delete them at any time. Our strict anti-surveillance stance means there’s no stealth tracking or creepy screenshots — just transparent tools that help employees manage their day better. 

Here are three examples of how teams benefit from Toggl Track, each showcasing a key feature:

• Design teams can use Toggl Track to log their time on brainstorming, revisions, and dealing with a client’s constructive feedback. When each designer shares their data with their manager or the rest of the team, it’s easier to estimate future projects more accurately and meet every deadline. 
• Consultancy firms can track their billable hours per client. Toggl Track allows consultants to generate detailed reports to create accurate invoices. This intel also enables them to identify profitable areas and improve efficiency. 
• Marketers can track time across various tasks such as content creation, campaign management, and reporting. Toggl Track’s insights help them prioritize high-impact activities and allocate resources where they’re needed most.

Ready to boost productivity in your organization? Book a free demo and explore how Toggl Track can improve your team while respecting everyone’s privacy.

Year after year, hiring teams complain about a lack of talent in the job market…while candidates vent about their ability to line up a new gig. Something doesn’t add up, right? 

While there are loads of external things we can blame (poor education systems, cut-throat competition, revenue decline), more often than not, a poor talent acquisition strategy is the culprit. 

The better news? Fixing your talent acquisition process doesn’t have to be an uphill battle, especially when you can skip the trial-and-error part and jump straight to hiring the best people for your roles. 

Over the past decade, Toggl’s PeopleOps team has been relentlessly working to optimize our talent attraction and retention capabilities. Just like others, we were tired of wasting money on poor fits but never had the luxury of unlimited time to screen candidates. 

So, what we’ll show you in detail is how to move from reactive, gut-driven hiring to a proactive, data-backed talent acquisition strategy that helps our talent acquisition team reduce time to hire by over 80%, reduce the odds of bad hires to almost zero, and keep candidate experience scores high.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• A talent acquisition strategy aligns immediate staffing needs with long-term workforce planning so you can always access your required competencies. This strategy also helps reduce cost and time per hire. 

• Our 7-step framework will help you whip your talent acquisition process into shape. You’ll conduct a brand audit and skills gaps analysis, evaluate your sourcing channels and screening process, and invest more in candidate experience, recruitment automation, and analytics tools. 

• Need some inspiration? Slack, Vodaphone, and Marriott have reduced time to hire and increased quality to hire by adopting pre-employment skills assessments, recruitment automation, and diversity recruitment practices. 

• If there’s just one thing you can fix today, our PeopleOps team encourages you to embed more data insights into the hiring process (tools like Toggl Hire can help a lot!), patch up your candidate experience, and invest in talent retention as much as in talent acquisition. 

Talent acquisition vs. recruitment

Talent acquisition and recruitment processes optimize for the same goal — supplying more qualified candidates to open roles. However, each process follows a different timeline and uses different methods. 

Recruitment focuses on immediate staffing needs. Your UX designer is leaving for another job — you need to recruit a replacement. Or you’re opening a new storefront and need to hire a lot of frontline staff.  

The usual process follows: Your recruitment team writes new job descriptions, posts them on job boards, screens applicants, and schedules interviews with hiring managers. Recruitment prioritizes speed and effectiveness in hiring the right talent for open roles, using job boards and standardized skills assessments to fill those quickly. 

In contrast, talent acquisition focuses on long-term workforce planning. Imagine three mid-managers are due for promotions this year, and you must replace two. You plan to launch a new product next year, and you’ll need an A+ sales team.  

Talent acquisition involves significant upfront investments from HR professionals — skills mapping, gap analysis, talent forecasting, employer branding, and candidate relationship management. You’re playing the long game to build a talent pipeline. 

Unlike recruitment, the talent acquisition process doesn’t end with job offer acceptance. It can also include succession planning, internal mobility programs, and ongoing organizational development activities. 

Companies often combine recruiting for immediate needs with talent acquisition for critical roles, requiring in-demand skills and future capacity planning. 

💡 If you’re a visual learner, here is a quick breakdown of the differences between recruitment and talent acquisition:

Recruitment is reactive, focusing on filling open job vacancies ASAP.	Talent acquisition is proactive. It involves nurturing relationships before hiring needs arise.
Recruitment’s scope is short-term and role-specific, targeting entry- and mid-level, and high-volume roles.	Talent acquisition’s scope is long-term and company-wide, targeting specialized, leadership, or hard-to-fill roles.
Most recruitment activities are transactional — posting job ads, candidate screening, and interview scheduling.	Most talent acquisition activities are strategic —  employer branding, workforce planning, and candidate relationship management.
Optimized metrics include time-to-hire, hiring volume, cost-of-hire, etc.	Optimized metrics include quality of hire, candidate engagement, employer brand strength, etc.

How to develop a talent acquisition strategy

A talent acquisition strategy is a set of repeatable steps you use to continuously attract top talent. 

At Toggl, we relied on seven steps to grow our workforce to 100+ people (and continue to do so!) while keeping all important recruitment metrics in the green. 

The beauty of our strategy is that it’s easy to replicate and reiterate to almost every business, which we encourage you to do! 

1. Audit your employer brand

An employer brand is all the information about your company online or through word of mouth. Nail it, and you’ll attract top talent like a magnet. Mess it up, and good luck with your talent pipeline.

68% of professionals say an employer brand and employer value proposition (EVP) have positively influenced their decision to continue with a job application.

Potential candidates usually rank company reputation and stability as the top factors, followed by culture and employee wellness initiatives, a KMA Human Resources Consulting survey found. When they find not-so-savory bits, many choose not to apply. 

To test the sentiment about your company:

• Conduct an internal survey on employee engagement and satisfaction. If there are issues with employee experiences or the work environment, fix them before they become public.

• Evaluate your online reputation. Review Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn company pages for critical feedback. Ask current employees for reviews.

• Refresh your employee value proposition to better reflect your organization’s culture, mission, and values, plus speak to the right candidates. 

• Review your recruitment marketing activities, which include things like tone of voice, messaging, EVP representation, employee testimonials, and storytelling content. 

• Start collecting feedback during exit interviews to better understand employer brand weaknesses and prioritize improvement areas. 

• Track employer brand performance metrics like quality of hire, application rates, candidate experience scores, and offer acceptance rate to sharpen your strategy. 

Strong employer brands attract candidates organically, reducing recruitment costs by 50% and receiving twice as many top candidates per position.

2. Assess current skills and future needs

Talent acquisition aims to close workforce skill gaps before they become an operational nuisance. Since 2016, 25% of job skills have changed, and by 2030, another 65% will adapt, meaning talent shortages will become more apparent and talent competition will be fiercer.

By performing a talent gap analysis, you can identify disparities between current workforce capabilities and future skill requirements to align your recruitment efforts with business goals. This way, you can: 

• Prioritize hiring for high-impact but hard-to-source roles 
• Forecast hiring budgets and recruitment costs better
• Launch internal learning and development initiatives 
• Build a talent pool proactively to fulfill future demands 

Start with an internal skills matrix, mapping your people’s current capabilities and development potential. Then, develop a skill taxonomy — an overarching representation of key competencies, skill sets, and sub-skills required for each role now and in the future.

Finally, reconcile the present and the future by modeling a workforce plan. Detail:

• Skills gaps and skills mismatch levels among different teams and business units

• Ideal recruitment levels, based on different revenue forecasts, capacity needs, and wider job market changes

• Organizational development initiatives to meet current and future skill requirements

• Succession plans detailing horizontal and vertical growth opportunities for employees eager to take on new responsibilities

Grounding your talent acquisition in skills lets you switch from reactive (re: rushed and expensive) hiring to proactive, paced, and lower-cost acquisition at the perfect timing.

With skills-based hiring, companies from any sector — education, manufacturing, financial services, or technology — can reach 10X to 20X bigger talent pools.  

LinkedIn

3. Choose the right sourcing channels

Recruiters use a medley of channels to attract more applicants to open roles, including niche job boards, LinkedIn, job aggregators, events, and social media.

Use at least three active sourcing channels to reach diverse candidates and compare costs, quality of hire, and time-to-fill. Also, try some creative sourcing strategies to engage passive candidates and grow your talent pool. These might include: 

• Sponsoring an industry newsletter, read by your ideal candidate profile. Some creators curate daily or weekly job ops in a specific industry (e.g., content, marketing) or position type (e.g., remote work or fractional role).

• Leveling up your TikTok game. TikTok now gets more traffic than Google, and its content has evolved beyond lipsync videos. Companies like The Washington Post and Cisco are killing it with employer branding content aimed at showcasing company culture and building relationships with potential candidates.  

• Creating an internal candidate mart. You may have the right internal talent for open roles. Start matching your people to open roles, as Salesforce does with its new internal talent platform. Any employee can create a LinkedIn-style profile, auto-populated with their data, and get matched with a roster of open roles, temporary assignments, and learning opportunities based on their core and transferable skills. 

4. Streamline the candidate screening process

Any new employee selection process can be equally frustrating for candidates and hiring managers if it lacks objectivity. This is especially true with legacy applicant tracking systems, that solely screen for keywords or outdated credentials like ‘years of experience’ or ‘degree.’

Here are some better ways to screen candidates objectively: 

• Pre-employment skills assessments to verify core competencies, technical skills, and people skills

• Case studies and technical interviews to test the candidates’ core knowledge and professional chops on mock problems 

• Homework assignments as an alternative to evaluating practical skills and problem-solving in an async way

• Structured behavioral interviews to assess workplace competencies, leadership attributes, and collaboration skills 

At Toggl, we use pre-employment skills as the first step in shortlisting candidates for all open roles. Our approach is time-effective for everyone. Most initial assessments take 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the role.

With Toggl Hire, you can set an automatic pass rate for tested skills (e.g., a minimum of 80% correct answers) to quickly identify the best talent. Candidates receive immediate feedback (instead of radio silence for weeks!) while hiring managers can easily view the best candidate profiles with verified real-world competencies. It’s a win-win. 

5. Offer a great candidate experience

When applicants have several employment offers, they usually choose companies that offer a better candidate experience. 

Not sure how you track? Start measuring candidate NPS with one quick question after the job application: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our hiring process to others?” Low results indicate you need to do some ‘debugging.’

Implement small but impactful gestures to create a positive candidate experience: 

• Provide updates on application status. Most recruitment platforms let you configure auto-email dispatches, explaining the current status, decision timelines, and next steps. 

• Eliminate redundant fields from an application form. 65% of candidates say the application process is too long or has too many requirements. Shrink the form size by removing redundant (e.g., years of experience) or irrelevant (e.g., GPA, highest degree) fields. 

• Give feedback after interviews. It can be a short, personalized summary based on the interviewer’s notes. At Toggl, we do that for every candidate who had a face-to-face interview as a sign of respect for committing their time (it honestly should be the bare minimum, though). 

The better you treat people through the recruitment and selection stage — the higher your chances of getting them into your talent pool. At Toggl, we maintain a database of the best candidates for most of the open positions. When we’re ready to hire again, we’ve already got a great list of candidates for outreach. 

6. Make data-driven hiring decisions

It’s 2025, and many hiring teams still rely on ‘hunches’ or ‘vast personal experiences’ to determine a candidate’s fit….despite knowing all too well the costs and consequences of bad hires. 

At Toggl, we don’t like to play ‘guessing games’ when it comes to talent management. We prefer hard evidence instead. Hiring decision-making in our company is rooted in:

• Test scores from several types of assessments (technical skills sets, soft skills assessments, homework assignments). 

• Candidate scorecards from different interview rounds, assessing all applicants against the same grading criteria. 

• Post-interview evaluations based on a deeper assessment of each candidate’s qualifications, work experience, certifications, leadership potential, and overall attitude. 

• Paid test day/week performance — a realistic job preview we host with final round candidates to give a sense of our work culture and verify their chops in a real-time setting. 

As part of a wider talent acquisition strategy, we also track recruiting metrics like time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and quality-of-hire to refine our talent management strategy. 

An increasing time-to-hire for some roles can signal several problems: talent shortages, salary growth (beyond what we can offer), sourcing channel exhaustion, or poor role definition (e.g., asking too much from one person). 

7. Use technology to automate processes

An effective talent acquisition strategy requires contributions from many stakeholders, from company leadership to hiring managers and TAs. Naturally, there can be a lot of back-and-forth about key decisions. Which skills acquisition do we prioritize?

How do we give personalized feedback to 10 candidates? Recruitment automation can sort a lot of menial work, freeing our team up to focus on things that matter — like giving good feedback to candidates who have taken the time to apply for roles at our company:

• AI-powered resume screening tools match applicants to open requisitions based on contextual resume analysis rather than pre-defined rules. 

• Recruitment platforms streamline job description creation and job postings across selected channels. 

• Integrated candidate relationship management tools automate application status updates, personalize communication, and enable talent pooling. 

Implemented correctly, recruitment technology transforms communication chaos at the back end into predictable, repeatable, and data-driven hiring cycles. 

Examples of successful talent acquisition strategies

Need some more inspo to get started? Here are three companies with ultra-effective talent acquisition strategies.

Slack 

Everyone’s favorite workplace chat app needs a large back-end engineering workforce to keep its product running. To hire pros, Slack’s recruiters gave extensive take-home assignments and then conducted technical interviews with certain candidates. Unfortunately, this process wasn’t scalable because it was too time-heavy for job seekers and hiring managers. 

To speed up the hiring cycle, Slack’s hiring team pivoted to two exercises — an API design and a code review exercise — completed within two hours. Although short, both assignments tested candidates for essential technical and interpersonal qualities: code quality, design skills, thorough testing, security awareness, maintainability, and performance optimization. 

Results? Slack’s time-to-hire dropped from an average of 200 days to below 83 days. Candidates and hiring managers also gave positive feedback. 

Marriott 

Marriott, consistently voted as the ‘Best Place to Work’, aims to excel in diversity hiring. Andrew Newmark, Chief Human Resources Officer at Marriott International, Asia Pacific, believes that DEI helps attract top talent and also supplies the company with important skill sets like cultural competence, adaptability, empathy, innovative thinking, and collaborative skills.  

The hotel chain recently partnered with Sarthak Education Trust and the Helen Keller Foundation in Southeast Asia to improve its recruitment and onboarding processes for people with disabilities. The change to how the company engages and markets to candidates with additional needs led to a 180% increase in its disability inclusion workforce in 2023. 

Vodafone 

Vodafone leaned heavily into AI and automation tools to overhaul its talent acquisition process. The company receives over 500,000 applications for its jobs, and automation provides greater insights into candidate profiles while elevating the candidate experience. 

By streamlining more steps in the hiring process and adding better feedback mechanisms, the company went from a negative candidate satisfaction to a +86 NPS score, according to  Carl Clarke, Vodafone’s Director of Talent. Moreover, automation saves recruiters about 16 hours per week in sourcing, giving them more time to focus on candidate relationship nurturing. 

Tips from Toggl’s talent team

Ready to zhuzh up your talent acquisition strategy? Here are a few extra tips from our PeopleOps team and hiring managers who recently hired for open roles. 

Use the right hiring tools

You’re bound to make hiring mistakes if you lack a structured process to test and compare candidates. We’ve learned that lesson the hard way when we spend hundreds of hours (and euros) on recruiting software engineers, only to let go of those new hires in several weeks. 

So we ‘fixed that’ by creating Toggl Hire, a full-cycle recruitment platform that gives us irrefutable proof of candidates’ credentials while automating loads of menial tasks along the way.

Pipeline design, candidate tracking, collaboration on candidate shortlisting, and post-application feedback — we can create and replicate the same workflow steps in several clicks. 

Lean on data as much as possible

Every stage of our hiring cycle is backed by data from skill tests, video intros, structured interviews, and homework assessments. By anchoring every progression decision in data, we eliminate (un)conscious bias and doubts over candidates ‘lack of seniority’ or ‘career history gaps.’ 

That said, the hiring team also values the ‘human factor.’ After face-to-face interviews, we always ask questions like: “Do you feel the candidate will add immediate value to Toggl?” If there’s one ‘maybe’ or ‘no’, the candidate isn’t a good match for us, at least now.  

For broader workforce planning, our TAs always hawk over recruitment metrics like time-to-hire, cost-of-hire, quality of hire, and candidate NPS. We also track wider workforce trends to detect skills mismatches within our company, shifts in skills supply, and recruitment channel performance to inform our strategy. 

Focus on retaining your best employees

Talent retention always beats talent acquisition when it comes to costs and impacts. 

Satisfied workers are more productive, meaning better business outcomes. And they’re also your biggest brand advocates. Year after year, employee referrals remain one of the most effective talent attraction methods for us and other businesses. 

Candidates trust the company’s employees 3x more than the employer itself to provide credible information on what it’s like to work there.

LinkedIn

Employee retention is a key part of Toggl’s talent acquisition strategy. We invest heavily in internal mobility, effective succession planning, and all sorts of employee well-being initiatives — from a paid annual learning budget and health-related perks to an RAFT (Results and Accountability First) framework, which gives people full control over their schedule as long as they meet professional goals. 

Don’t forget about candidate experience

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that companies with high candidate experience scores do six things differently: 

1. Hold recruiters accountable for good candidate experience 
2. Use some form of automation and AI recruiting technologies
3. Aim to make screening decisions (pass/fail) within 3-5 days 
4. Complete the entire recruitment cycle in 60 days or less 
5. Follow a structured interview process and train interviewers in fairness 
6. Always give post-interview feedback to finalists 

At Toggl, we stand for the same principles. By implementing automation where it’s needed, we give hiring managers more ‘headroom’ for precise decision-making and TAs — the ability to have authentic interactions with more applicants. 

An effective talent acquisition strategy starts with Toggl Hire

At the end of the day, a good talent acquisition strategy is all about fixing what’s broken — aka the current talent market. 

Too often, companies focus on what they need instead of what they can offer to candidates, treating people as numbers (because they’re overloaded and behind on hiring goals). 

By switching from a reactive to proactive talent acquisition, you can dial down on the immediate pressure of ‘just getting as many people into the funnel’ and focus on choosing the best fits from a pre-vetted talent pool. 

With Toggl Hire, you get a cost-effective way to build a smarter, faster, and more human talent acquisition strategy. You’ll: 

• Filter, track, and organize hiring pipelines however you see fit, supply data for faster decision-making, and streamline candidate feedback. 

• Include skills assessments at any stage of a recruitment cycle to reveal true candidate aptitude and potential.

• Practice collaborative hiring with convenient dashboards and in-app messaging to capture everyone’s insights and feedback. 

• Save time on candidate screening, prioritization, and scheduling to accelerate your hiring cycles. 

Get a free Toggl Hire demo to see all the above in action!