AI might be revolutionizing agency workflows—but according to Hubstaff’s latest report, almost nobody’s keeping score.
The time-tracking platform’s new research, “More Profit, Less Burnout: How Smart Agencies Scale,” uncovers a blind spot in how creative and digital agencies are measuring AI’s real impact on their work. While AI adoption is booming, the data says agencies aren’t actually recording where—or how—those gains are showing up.
The Paradox: High AI Adoption, Low Visibility
Hubstaff’s survey of agency teams paints a familiar yet surprising picture. Between 65% and 73% of agencies are already using AI tools in some capacity—whether for research, reporting, project management, or client communications. A full 86% report noticeable productivity gains.
Yet when Hubstaff cross-checked that enthusiasm against real-world timesheet data, the numbers told a different story: just 4% of logged hours are marked as AI-related.
That discrepancy points to an emerging paradox in the modern agency world. AI is clearly speeding things up—67% of teams say they work faster and 69% say they’re more focused—but few are actually tracking where those gains occur. The result? Leaders may be undercounting AI’s contribution to their bottom line.
“Agencies are gaining hours every week with AI, but they’re not tracking those wins,” said Jared Brown, CEO of Hubstaff. “You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.”
Invisible Work, Invisible Wins
The report suggests the issue isn’t adoption—it’s accounting. Agencies have been quick to roll out AI for everyday tasks but haven’t updated their time-tracking categories or project dashboards to reflect that shift. AI-assisted work often hides behind traditional task labels like “research” or “content prep,” masking the technology’s real footprint.
That lack of visibility doesn’t just skew productivity metrics—it also complicates capacity planning, resource allocation, and profitability forecasts. If AI is doing more work in less time, but time tracking doesn’t show it, managers risk overstaffing or underutilizing resources based on outdated assumptions.
As Hubstaff’s analysis points out, agencies could be missing the boat on meaningful AI adoption—not because they aren’t using the tools, but because they’re not measuring their impact.
Why It Matters: Tracking Time in the AI Era
For agencies, time has always been money. But as AI becomes embedded in every workflow, understanding how time is saved may soon be just as valuable as understanding how it’s spent.
Hubstaff argues that the next competitive edge won’t come from simply using AI—it’ll come from making AI-visible in time-tracking and analytics systems. By connecting productivity data with automation data, agencies can better forecast workload capacity and profitability.
The takeaway is clear: in the AI age, the smartest agencies won’t just save time—they’ll quantify it.
The Bigger Picture: Measuring the AI Workforce Shift
Hubstaff’s latest report builds on its earlier research, “The AI Productivity Shift and Workstyle Revolution,” which explored how distributed teams use automation to stay efficient. Together, the studies reveal a growing need for smarter workforce analytics—tools that show not only what gets done, but how technology accelerates the process.
As AI reshapes agency economics, leaders who track those invisible hours could be the first to turn hidden efficiency into measurable growth.
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