In an industrial context, productivity takes on a machine definition closely aligned with mechanical efficiency. For example, when a software product is purchased by a corporation, the value proposition often has to do with "increased productivity" understood as work time spent in a way that can be measured directly in terms of profit increase. The meaning of productivity tends to narrow as a result to mean only return on finanical investment in labor, which can edge out "seat time" spent learning, remembering, thinking, imagining in ways that are essential to humans and not measurable simply in terms of what the machine data-driven project management process would call productive.

If a worker were to put their metaphorical ear to the engine of the business on which they depend, this might be heard as "what you need to be human is not productive."