Productivity and Working Hours Within Teams of Knowledge Workers

ABSTRACT Modern workplaces extensively use teams of white‐collar knowledge workers to complete complex projects. Data on architects designing construction projects in a Japanese firm reveal that a five‐person team's highest contributor invests over 60% of the team's working hours. Following the financial crisis of 2008, the average team productivity increased by 8.9%, while hours became more concentrated within teams. A theoretical model of team productivity is used to explain the changes. The counterfactual exercise finds that 40.3% of the team productivity increase is attributed to an increase in individual worker productivity, and 59.7% of the increase is due to hours reallocation.