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We believe how we work matters. As pioneers of Virtual First, we continue to invest in our own research to better understand what fuels performance, productivity, and work-life harmony in a distributed world. In our latest study, we set out to answer one question: What makes our highest-performing, most engaged employees stand out?
HR thought leader Josh Bersin explored similar themes when he studied the impact of AI on work and introduced the idea of the Superworker: someone who uses AI to move past task automation and truly reshape their work for the better. Inspired by this research, we investigated the qualities and behaviors that distinguish top performers in a virtual environment, including how they use AI to optimize their work.
Meet the thriving employees
Our research focused on the top 15% of Dropbox employees who demonstrate both high engagement and high performance. We call them our thriving employees.
High engagement is defined as feeling particularly happy, productive, and successful in our Virtual First environment, as well as finding growth, recognition, and meaning in one’s work. High performance is receiving our highest performance ratings or being recently promoted.
Not all high performers are highly engaged, and not all highly engaged employees are high performers. Those who are thriving are both.
What our research tells us about thriving employees
AI has ushered in a new era of productivity. At Dropbox, 78% of employees report AI tools (like ChatGPT or Dropbox Dash) make them more productive—a 20-point jump from last year.
Other internal survey results tell us more about AI’s impact:
- 96% of Dropbox employees use AI weekly for tasks like finding information, brainstorming, software development, and drafting messages.
- 85% of that saved time is reinvested in work-related activities, showing that AI isn’t just about efficiency, but about elevating the quality and impact of work.
- Employees report saving time every week with AI, with 49% saying this time is then reallocated to higher-value work.
When we look at AI usage among thriving employees, 87% said AI boosts their productivity, compared to 76% of everyone else.
Taken together, our findings show that AI use is broadly beneficial, as it accelerates workflows and expands ways of thinking. However, AI use alone doesn’t explain who’s thriving in a Virtual First environment. Employees across roles and performance levels reported similar productivity gains when using AI, suggesting it boosts everyone’s work but isn’t what sets top performers apart.
So the question becomes: In an era when everyone is using AI for a performance edge, how do you stand out? The answer lies in mindset, behaviors, and the ability to exercise autonomy.
Thriving employees follow a different playbook
Our research shows those who are thriving design systems that sustain output by emphasizing autonomy, connection, and balance. Thriving employees are deliberate about their time, energy, and relationships.
Based on internal interviews and survey data, thriving team members commonly:
- Build relationships beyond immediate teams to surface fresh ideas, identify blockers, and expand influence (e.g., invest in weak-tie connections).
- Shape calendars to protect focus by blocking time for deep work, batching meetings, and making time for breaks and physical activity.
- Seek stretch projects and view growth as an opportunity to learn, not just get promoted.
- Find motivation in impact versus visibility.
- Balance intensity with recovery, the key to sustained performance.
Studying thriving employees helps us refine our Virtual First model with greater focus and intention. The real challenge and opportunity is creating a culture where exceptional performance and engagement meet.
That’s the sweet spot of Virtual First.
As AI transforms the way we work, our teams need more than just access to tools. They need guidance and opportunities to apply them. That’s why we’re investing in a mix of learning formats: peer learnings, team trainings, tailored playbooks, and practical workshops. Together, these create clear pathways for employees to build skills, take on high-impact projects, and spark AI-driven innovation across the company.
“AI can certainly help us work faster, but time saved does not necessarily equal value created. The real opportunity lies in how we leverage our reclaimed time. Our top performers go beyond output, embracing problem-solving, curiosity, and self-direction, using tech to fuel deeper thinking and meaningful impact.”
— Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief People Officer at Dropbox
What sets thriving developers apart
When we focus on developers, we look at a variety of metrics to gain insight into their performance and experience. Pull requests (proposed code changes reviewed by teammates) primarily reflect engineering speed, while other self-reported metrics tell us how they feel about their tools, workflows, and collaboration.
Across these measures, thriving developers stand out, both in terms of output and how they feel about their experience. Here’s how thriving developers differ from their peers:
- They submit 20% more pull requests than their peers in the same period.
- 69% say they have time for deep, focused work vs. 51% of peers.
- 73% say they use AI assistance daily vs. 59% of other developers.
- 84% say it’s easy to understand and modify their code vs. 62% of peers.
- 59% say it’s easy to debug production issues vs. 38% of peers.
- 77% overall feel they’re working on products with strong stability (fewer bugs, errors, and performance issues) vs. 65% of peers.
So what really sets top performers apart in modern work?
It’s not just productivity or AI tools. The key differentiator lies in how people work. AI boosts productivity for everyone, but those who are thriving go further by combining AI tools with curiosity, focus, and initiative.
In the end, AI can help us move faster, but it’s the durable, uniquely human skills like connection, purpose, and learning agility that truly propel us forward. Organizations that embrace these elements and adopt a modern operating model will unlock the full potential of their remote teams.
Check out how we’re embedding AI into Dropbox Dash to unlock greater productivity for our customers. And to learn more about thriving in a distributed work environment, check out our Virtual First Toolkit and visit our Virtual First hub.
The Author
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