Technician efficiency compares the standard time allowed for the jobs a technician completed with the actual time they took. Above 100% means they finished faster than standard; below 100% means slower.
It answers a different question from technician utilization rate. Utilization asks how much of the day was spent working. Efficiency asks how fast the work went once they were working.
How to calculate technician efficiency
Technician efficiency = Standard hours for completed jobs ÷ Actual hours on those jobs
Standard hours come from your price book or job duration estimates. Say a technician completed jobs last week with standard times adding up to 30 hours, and their actual on-site time on those jobs was 27 hours. Efficiency is 30 ÷ 27, about 111%.
Measure actual hours from arrival to departure on each job. Don't include drive time; that belongs to the schedule, not to how fast the technician works.
Combine the two measures to see overall output:
Productive output ≈ Utilization × Efficiency
A technician at 60% utilization and 110% efficiency produces about 66% of their paid hours in standard work. One at 70% and 95% produces about 66.5%. Same output, different problems.
Why it matters
Efficiency tells you where to look. Low efficiency points to skill, training, tools or standard times that are wrong. Low utilization with good efficiency points to the schedule: too much driving, gaps between jobs or not enough work booked.
Keeping them separate protects technicians from being blamed for the schedule. A technician whose day was booked across the whole territory will have low utilization regardless of skill. CrewLink works on the utilization side of that by checking feasibility before a slot is offered, so the dispatch board shows drive time next to each job. Efficiency remains a question of how the work is done on site.
A common mistake
Using standard times nobody has checked in years. If equipment, methods or job scope changed, the standard is wrong and every efficiency number built on it is wrong. Review standard times against the median of actual times every year.
Related terms
- Technician utilization rate measures time spent working.
- Technician productivity measures overall output.
- Flat rate pricing depends on the same standard times.
Common questions
What is the difference between technician efficiency and productivity?
Efficiency compares actual job time with standard time. Productivity is broader, usually output per paid hour, and includes utilization.
Can efficiency be too high?
Very high efficiency can mean standard times are padded, or that steps are being skipped. Check callback rates for technicians who consistently beat standard by a wide margin.
Should technicians be paid on efficiency?
Some flat-rate pay plans effectively do that. If you do, keep callbacks and quality checks in the plan so speed doesn't come at the cost of the work.