Impact Signal No. 3 — The Capacity Drain Index — City Shift Finance
Impact Signal

The Capacity Drain Index

Organizations do not lose capacity through single dramatic failures. They lose it gradually, category by category, sector by sector, until the hours available for high-value work are structurally insufficient. This publication measures where that drain is deepest and what recovery looks like when it is addressed.

Impact
Drain intensity by category
Estimated share of working time lost to each drain category, by sector. Darker cells indicate higher intensity. No sector escapes all five drain types simultaneously.
Meeting
Overload
Admin &
Compliance
Manual
Tasks
Info
Search
Context
Switching
Pharma & Life Sciences
14%
42%
11%
19%
14%
Media & Entertainment
18%
10%
13%
14%
22%
Logistics & Supply Chain
9%
13%
50%
14%
10%
Real Estate & Construction
13%
19%
18%
11%
13%
Government & Public Sector
16%
40%
13%
20%
9%
Low
High
Source: City Shift Finance  ·  Federal Demonstration Partnership Workload Survey  ·  nShift 2024  ·  Asana Anatomy of Work Index  ·  OPM FEVS 2024
Pharma admin 42%: FDP 2020 survey of US researchers. Logistics manual task 50%: nShift finding that one-third of logistics workers spend over 50% of time on manual tasks. Government admin 40%: OPM FEVS 2024 and PublicSectorPeople research. Info search 19%: Published workforce research finding that employees spend 1.8 hours per 8-hour day searching for information. All values illustrative.
Trend
What recovery looks like
Strategic capacity share before and after structured capacity recovery, by sector. The gap between dots shows the recoverable time available to each sector.
Before
After
Real Estate & Construction
38%
60%
+22pp
Media & Entertainment
35%
58%
+23pp
Logistics & Supply Chain
30%
55%
+25pp
Pharma & Life Sciences
26%
52%
+26pp
Government & Public Sector
22%
44%
+22pp
Source: City Shift Finance  ·  Asana Anatomy of Work Index  ·  Microsoft Work Trend Index 2025  ·  Harvard Business Review
Strategic capacity share = estimated % of working time available for high-value skilled work. Before = current state. After = post-intervention benchmark. pp = percentage points recovered. All values illustrative.
Benchmark
The non-strategic work share
Each dot represents one percent of the working day. Filled dots show the estimated share consumed by non-strategic work. The remaining dots represent available strategic capacity.
Pharma & Life Sciences
74%
non-strategic
Media & Entertainment
65%
non-strategic
Logistics & Supply Chain
70%
non-strategic
Real Estate & Construction
62%
non-strategic
Government & Public Sector
78%
non-strategic
Non-strategic work
Available strategic capacity
Source: City Shift Finance  ·  Asana Anatomy of Work Index  ·  Microsoft Work Trend Index 2025  ·  Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025
Asana Anatomy of Work Index finds 60% of knowledge worker time on non-strategic coordination. Microsoft WTI 2025 reports 57% of time on communication vs. creation. Sector figures reflect published research adjusted for sector-specific drain profiles. All values illustrative.
Executive View
Capacity Drain Index
Arc fill represents CDI score out of 100. A composite of drain intensity, non-strategic work share, and recovery gap. Sector structure drives variation, not individual performance.
84 CDI
Government & Public Sector
81 CDI
Pharma & Life Sciences
74 CDI
Logistics & Supply Chain
66 CDI
Media & Entertainment
59 CDI
Real Estate & Construction
Source: City Shift Finance  ·  Asana  ·  Microsoft Work Trend Index 2025  ·  Gallup  ·  Federal Demonstration Partnership  ·  nShift
Capacity Drain Index is a City Shift Finance composite measure. Arc fill is proportional to CDI score out of 100. Scores combine drain intensity, non-strategic work share, and recovery gap. All values are illustrative.

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