As the mortgage industry adapts to changing workforce dynamics, Preferred Rate Mortgage is demonstrating how workforce intelligence can drive strategic advantage. The 700-employee lender turned to ActivTrak’s analytics platform to validate remote work, streamline operations, and recruit talent nationwide—unlocking measurable gains across productivity, hiring, and technology investments.
Confirming Remote Work Success
With ActivTrak’s visibility into employee work patterns, Preferred Rate confirmed that remote employees maintained strong productivity and accountability. The insights gave leadership confidence to reduce reliance on physical offices and broaden recruitment beyond local markets.
The results were tangible: the company added producing loan officers 32% faster than competitors, all while keeping staffing levels steady.
“Without ActivTrak, we would be operating on some back-of-the-napkin calculation or assumption,” said Chris Lekousis, Co-Founder and VP of Operations at Preferred Rate. “ActivTrak gave us the evidence to confidently shift to a mostly remote model that boosted productivity and expanded our ability to recruit talent nationwide.”
Optimizing Technology and Workflows
ActivTrak’s data also pinpointed technology bottlenecks and workflow inefficiencies that were limiting employee performance. Leadership used these insights to:
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Address system latency
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Streamline workflows
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Prioritize software investments
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Consolidate underused tools
By tackling these issues, employees could work more efficiently, enhancing productivity and earning potential.
Supporting Strategic Workforce Planning
ActivTrak became a key tool for workforce planning. HR, finance, and operations teams gained a shared view of work patterns, enabling better alignment on capacity and resource allocation. This agility is crucial in the mortgage sector, where volume fluctuates with market conditions.
“We can lose more business by being ineffective and not having enough runway and bandwidth to account for the ebbs and flows in the market,” Lekousis explained.
Advancing a Transparency-First Culture
Preferred Rate is also planning to give individual contributors access to their own productivity data. The goal: reinforce a culture of transparency, helping employees understand their work patterns while supporting organizational goals.
“Transparency is one of the core tenets of our culture,” Lekousis said.
Heidi Farris, CEO of ActivTrak, added, “When organizations have clear visibility into workforce patterns, they can make bold decisions about their operating model with confidence. Preferred Rate didn’t just optimize around the edges—they fundamentally transformed how and where their people work.”
Preferred Rate’s experience demonstrates that workforce intelligence can do more than measure productivity. By providing actionable insights, it can guide operating model decisions, optimize technology investments, and strengthen strategic planning, all while fostering employee success and engagement.
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