---
title: "Which apps and websites count as unproductive for each role?"
description: "Label each app and website for each team before you read an unproductive share. Then read each team's share first, and a person's only against their own earlier figures."
---

# Which apps and websites count as unproductive for each role?

Workfolio team

October 12, 2026

Whether an app or website counts as unproductive depends on the team that uses it. The same site can be the work for one team and browsing outside the job for another. So decide the labels for each team, from the work of each role in it, before you read any unproductive share. Then read each team’s share first, and turn to one person only where the team’s figure points, against that person’s own earlier figures.

## Start from each role’s work, not from the app list

Take one team at a time. List its roles, and for each role list the apps and websites its people open to do the job. Ask the people in the role. They know which tools the work needs, and which they open only now and then.

Label an app productive when the role makes its output there, such as a code editor for a developer or a ticket queue for a support agent. Label it neutral when the role needs it but its use does not show output either way, such as a shared calendar. Label it unproductive when the role does not do its work there, such as a video site for an accounts clerk.

The same app can carry different labels. For a social media team, a social media site is the work itself. For a finance team it is unproductive. That is why each team gets its own list.

The same app or website carries a different label for each teamA social media site is Productive for the social media team and Unproductive for the support and finance teams. A ticket queue is Neutral for social media, Productive for support and Neutral for finance. A spreadsheet is Neutral for social media and support and Productive for finance. A video site is Neutral for social media and Unproductive for support and finance. The label set for each team Social media Support Finance Social media site Ticket queue Spreadsheet Video site Productive Productive Productive Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Unproductive Unproductive Unproductive Unproductive

*The same site carries a different label for each team: the social media site is Productive for one and Unproductive for the other two.*

## Set the labels in Workfolio for each team

In [Workfolio](/productivity-tracking), an admin, or a team head the admin allows, sets whether an app or website counts as productive, neutral, or unproductive, for each team. Apps and websites are neutral until labelled, and a label applies to data recorded after it is set. Set each team’s labels from the list written for it, before anyone reads a figure.

Check the finished list with the people who do the work, and ask them about any app you could not place. Then tell the team openly which of its apps are labelled unproductive, why, and what the figure is for, and write the labels and their purpose into the office policy.

Meeting apps are the usual case for the Exclude apps from idle time tab of the Review Apps page: an admin, or a team head the admin allows, lists the apps or websites for each team there whose time always counts as active, even with no activity detected.

## Read the unproductive share after the labels

Once the labels are set, open the totals card. It shows the worked hours, split into Productive, Unproductive and Neutral. Idle time is inside the worked hours, and break time sits beside them.

![Totals card: 24h 00m worked, 20h 28m productive, 00h 00m unproductive, 03h 31m neutral, 11h 30m idle time, 05h 30m break time and 3 worked days](/_astro/totals-card.BSImm5Id_1We8tx.webp)

*The totals card: the worked hours, split into productive, unproductive and neutral, with break time and the worked days beside them.*

You can work out the unproductive share yourself: divide the unproductive hours by the worked hours on the same card. Time taken with Take a Break counts as break time. Workfolio tracks only while the employee is clocked in, so the card’s figures cover clocked-in time.

Read the share for each team first. Labels are set for each team, so a team’s share is read against its own labels, never against another team’s. Where one team holds roles whose work lies in different apps, the team’s list carries each role’s apps, so the team’s share still reads true for it.

Write down each team’s share for four to six weeks of ordinary work, with the dates. Next month, read the team’s new share against those weeks. A steady share needs no explanation. A rise for the whole team usually means a label is wrong or the work has changed, so check the labels with the team first.

Turn to one person only where the team’s figure points, and read that person against their own earlier share, never against a colleague’s. No step ranks one person against another.

## Judge the share against the output

The share says where the hours went. It does not say what they produced. An app label sorts time by app. It cannot show what was done in the app. A team can spend its days in productive apps and deliver little, and a team with a high unproductive share can still deliver what was asked. The delivered work is the final test, and the share never outranks it.

When a team’s share is high and its output is missing, ask the team what the apps were for. The label may be wrong, and the work may be too. When the share moves and the output holds, check the labels first. Where the team’s figure points to one person, ask that person what the apps were for before you judge anything.

## Where to start

Tell the team what the labels and the share are for before anyone reads a figure, and write it into the office policy. This week, list each team’s roles and the apps and websites each role opens. Label them with the people in each role, then set the labels for each team in Workfolio. Next month, work out each team’s unproductive share from the totals card and read it against the team’s earlier weeks and the work the team delivered, and only then read any one person against their own earlier share. Change a label only when the work shows it is wrong.

Previous Blog :-

[What's a normal active-time percentage for remote staff? Workfolio team October 12, 2026](/blog/whats-a-normal-active-time-percentage-for-remote-staff)

Next Blog :-

[What happens to the screenshots? Frequency, blurring and who can see them Workfolio team October 9, 2026](/blog/what-happens-to-the-screenshots-frequency-blurring-and-who-can-see-them)

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