Focus Time
Last updated: October 27, 2026
Focus time estimates how many hours per person per working week are left for uninterrupted, heads-down work after meetings and the short gaps between them. Span reads calendars only; it has no keyboard, IDE, or activity signal.
Why it matters
Deep work needs long, unbroken blocks. Focus time shows whether people have them, or whether meetings and the gaps between meetings eat the day. Use it to check capacity before committing to complex work, find meeting-heavy teams, spot people overloaded with meetings, and justify no-meeting blocks with data.
How it works
Daily focus time = 8 hours − meeting time − fragmented time (never below 0)
Focus time (h/wk) = (Sum of daily focus time ÷ Active weekdays) × 5Component | Definition |
|---|---|
Base workday | 8 hours. It isn't tied to a clock window: Span doesn't read working hours, so an evening meeting still subtracts from the 8 hours |
Meeting time | The day's qualifying meetings, with overlapping meetings merged so double-booked time counts once |
Fragmented time | Gaps between two meetings that are longer than 0 and no longer than the threshold (90 minutes by default). These gaps are too short for deep work |
Which meetings count. A calendar event counts as a meeting when it's confirmed (not tentative or cancelled), lasts 4 hours or less, and has more than one invitee who hasn't declined. A person's time counts when Span reads their own calendar, they didn't mark the event as free (Google "Show as: Free", Microsoft "Free" or "Working elsewhere"), and, as a required invitee, they didn't decline, or, as an optional invitee, they accepted. Google Focus time and Working location entries, solo blocks, and all-day events don't count as meetings.
Out-of-office days. Span leaves weekends and out-of-office days out of both the hours and the day count, so vacation doesn't lower focus time. Out-of-office days come from your calendar or your HRIS:
Calendar: out-of-office events must use the out-of-office event type (Google "Out of office", Microsoft "Away"). A weekday counts as out of office when those events cover more than 4 hours between 8am and 6pm local time.
HRIS: absence records from your HR system, connected through Kombo.
Team values pool every member's focus hours and active weekdays.
Setup
Connect Google Calendar or Microsoft (Outlook) calendar. The Focus time page appears only with a calendar connected.
Choose the out-of-office source in Settings → Org Calendar → Out of Office Days Source.
Optionally change the fragmented time threshold in Settings → Metrics → Meeting Time: 30, 60, 90 (recommended), or 120 minutes. Span recomputes history on its next run.
Make sure viewers have the Time permission for the people or teams they need to see.
Where to find it:
Insights → Productivity → Focus time for the organization, with columns for Focus time, Fragmented time, All meeting time, and each meeting category.
Team and person pages for a team's members or one person's trend and meeting breakdown.
Targets: set a Focus Time or Meeting Time target for a team.
Custom dashboards and benchmarks.
Filters: Is Manager, IC level, job title, job family, survey sentiment, tenure, and location. Meeting breakdown filters cover attendee range (2, 3 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 50, 50+) and meeting type. Time controls include date range, weekly (default) or daily granularity, and a "Compared to" period.
Reference ranges (hours per week; starting points, not rules):
Focus time | Assessment |
|---|---|
15 to 20 hours | Healthy: good capacity for complex work |
10 to 15 hours | Moderate: limited but manageable |
Under 10 hours | Concerning: meeting load is limiting deep work |
Under 5 hours | Critical: severe capacity constraints |
Managers and cross-functional roles naturally have less focus time. Compare ICs with ICs and managers with managers, and watch for fragmented time above about 5 hours a week.
Things to know
Worked example: on one day a person has meetings from 10:00 to 11:00 and 12:00 to 13:00. Meetings = 2 hours. The 60-minute gap between them is fragmented = 1 hour. Focus time = 8 − 2 − 1 = 5 hours. Time before the first meeting and after the last counts as focus.
Gap length: with the 90-minute default, a gap of exactly 90 minutes counts as fragmented and a 91-minute gap counts as focus.
40 hours of focus time means the person had no qualifying meetings on any active weekday. That happens when Span can't read their calendar, or their calendar holds only solo blocks, all-day events, or events over 4 hours. Team averages rise when such people are on the team.
Days with more than 8 hours of meetings and fragments show 0, not a negative number.
Focus blocks don't add focus time: Google Focus time events and solo blocks are ignored. A calendar full of focus blocks and no meetings shows 40 hours.
Fixed 8-hour day: Span doesn't account for part-time or flexible schedules. Interpret the number in context.
Calendar only: Span can't confirm the time was used for deep work. Read it next to code and PR activity.
Calendar hygiene matters: out-of-office time counts only when people use the out-of-office event type; a "Vacation" meeting block doesn't count.
Two calendar emails: if Span reads two calendar addresses for one person, it can produce a row per address per day, which can double-count that person's focus time.
Taking action on low focus time. Individuals can review which meetings they need, add focus blocks, decline optional meetings, and consolidate recurring ones. Teams can try no-meeting days or core hours, audit recurring meetings, move discussions to async channels, and batch meetings together. Organizations can set company-wide meeting-free time and review meeting culture across functions.
Related articles
Recurring Meetings Hours Per Week
How do working hours and time zones factor into Span metrics?
Need help?
Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.