Inside the 2025 Gray Work Report: Investment in Productivity Tech Is Up. Productivity? Not So Much
Do you ever feel like you're working harder but getting less done? You’re not alone—and now we have the data to prove it.
In Quickbase’s third annual Gray Work Report, nearly 2,200 professionals across 10 industries told us a familiar story: tech investments are rising, but productivity isn’t. Instead of accelerating work, today’s tools are slowing teams down, forcing them to chase data, duplicate effort, and constantly switch between disconnected systems.
The result? Project delays, miscommunication, and hours lost to work that shouldn’t exist in the first place. This year’s findings highlight a clear issue: too many tools, too little connection, and no single source of truth to tie it all together.
Let’s explore what the 2025 Gray Work Report reveals and what needs to change to unlock the value of the tools we rely on every day.
Tech Overload Is Killing Productivity
Technology is meant to simplify work. But for many teams, it’s making things harder.
Software is often bought in silos. Data lives across systems. And employees are left toggling between platforms, redoing work that already exists. Without integrated systems or a single source of truth, tech becomes another layer of friction, increasing complexity instead of reducing it.
Inside the Productivity Crisis
The cost of overwhelm isn’t just emotional, it’s operational.
Nearly half of the professionals surveyed have experienced project delays, miscommunication, duplicate work, or budget overruns this past year. These aren’t one-off issues. They’re symptoms of a workplace where processes keep multiplying while visibility and control fall behind.
59% say they spend over 11 hours a week just searching for information—a number unchanged since last year. That’s a quarter of the average workweek spent hunting through inboxes, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools instead of getting work done.
This isn’t about a lack of time. It’s about a lack of structure.
Too Much Tech, Too Much Manual Work: A Bad Mix
Automation was supposed to replace manual work. Instead, it’s added to it.
56% of professionals say manual work has increased in the past year, and only 18% saw a decrease. That means most teams are still stuck copying data between platforms, sending follow-ups, and chasing updates.
Spreadsheets are a major culprit. 90% use them weekly, 56% daily, splintering data across teams and making real-time collaboration tough.
Even project management tools, which are meant to help, are falling short.
Each new tool adds more silos, more duplication, and more Gray Work—just better disguised.
AI: A Potential Fix If We Get the Data Piece Right
There’s real momentum building around AI and for good reason.
Over half of professionals now use AI tools daily (up from just 21% in 2024), and nearly all are optimistic about its potential to unlock productivity.
But that optimism comes with a caveat: AI is only as powerful as the data it’s built on.
And that’s where most teams hit a wall. Security, compliance, and governance are no longer just IT concerns; they’re now the biggest blockers to broader adoption. 89% say their top barrier isn’t cost, but uncertainty around data integrity and protection.
Without connected, trustworthy systems, even the smartest AI won’t drive smarter decisions. It just adds another tool to the pile, promising clarity, but often delivering confusion.
If we want AI to work for us, we need more than enthusiasm. We need solid, well-governed data foundations. Because great tools can’t fix broken inputs.
So Where Do We Go from Here?
The 2025 Gray Work Report makes one thing clear: the productivity crisis isn’t just about too much work. It’s about the wrong kind of work.
We’ve hit a saturation point where adding tools won’t help unless they’re designed to connect. Leaders need to stop solving process problems by throwing more software at them. Instead, it’s time to ask better questions:
- Can teams in the field and office work in sync?
- Is our data trustworthy and accessible?
- Are we wasting time figuring out how to work instead of doing the work?
Gray Work Is Solvable but Not with Guesswork
Gray Work won’t disappear overnight. But it can be tackled with the right visibility, integration, and automation.
Quickbase’s 2025 Gray Work Report uncovers how manual tasks, fragmented systems, and a lack of trust in data continue to slow down productivity. It highlights where organizations are struggling to make decisions and where improvements can be made to reduce operational drag.
Download the report to pinpoint what’s slowing your team down and how to fix it.
Let’s stop patching problems with more tools and start building smarter systems that free people to do the work that really matters.
