The financial services industry continues to grapple with workload challenges, even as it makes progress in addressing employee burnout. WealthManagement reviewed ActivTrak's 2025 State of the Workplace Report, revealing that 74 percent of financial services employees now maintain healthy work patterns. The industry's burnout risk also has dropped, with only 7 percent of workers classified as at risk, a notable 30 percent improvement since 2023.
Despite those gains, the financial services sector still demands more time from its workforce than most other fields. The average workday stretches to 9 hours and 7 minutes. It also leads in weekend work, with 9 percent of employees logging hours on Saturdays and Sundays, averaging over four hours each day.
The report also highlights a widening divide in employee workload. Eleven percent of workers are overutilized — exceeding company-set productivity targets by at least 30 percent, while 16 percent are underutilized. This bell curve dynamic creates "organizational drag," with some employees carrying a disproportionate share of work while others remain idle or under-assigned, as reported by WealthManagement.
Still, the industry remains one of the most productive, according to WealthManagement. Financial services ranked third in daily productive time, with an average of 6 hours and 32 minutes. The sector achieved a 95 percent productivity efficiency rate, up slightly year over year, and placed fifth in productive session time, averaging 25 minutes and 35 seconds per work session.
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