BetterFlow Team

ARTICLE

Team performance AI: how GREEN/YELLOW/RED scoring detects overwork before burnout

February 09, 2026

4 min read

BetterFlow Team

Team performance AI: how GREEN/YELLOW/RED scoring detects overwork before burnout

Traditional performance management waits for problems to become visible: missed deadlines, quality issues, or employee resignation. By then, damage is done. AI-powered analysis of timesheet patterns can detect early warning signs weeks before problems surface.

At BetterQA, we built BetterFlow's Team Performance AI to give managers actionable signals, not surveillance data. The GREEN/YELLOW/RED scoring system surfaces workload anomalies that require attention while filtering out noise.

The green/yellow/red scoring system

When AI analyzes a team member's timesheet patterns, it assigns a score based on multiple factors:

GREEN (Healthy): Workload patterns are sustainable. Hours are consistent, work is spread across appropriate projects, and there are no concerning trends.

YELLOW (Attention Needed): Some patterns warrant manager attention. This might be increasing overtime, concentration of work on one project, or irregular hours that suggest workload issues.

RED (Action Required): Patterns strongly suggest burnout risk or workload problems. Sustained high hours, weekend work, or rapid changes in patterns trigger red flags.

What patterns indicate burnout risk?

Research on burnout identifies several measurable factors. BetterFlow's AI looks for:

Sustained overwork: More than 45 hours per week for 3+ consecutive weeks. Brief crunch periods are normal; sustained overwork predicts burnout.

Weekend and evening work: Regular work outside business hours, especially when increasing over time, suggests either too much work or poor boundaries.

Decreasing variety: When someone shifts from working on multiple projects to a single project, it might indicate either focus or being trapped on a problem.

Irregular patterns: Highly variable hours (some weeks 50 hours, some weeks 25) can indicate either project-driven variation or personal struggles.

PTO avoidance: Team members who have not taken vacation in months, especially when combined with high hours, are at elevated risk.

How AI analysis improves on manual review

A manager reviewing timesheets manually might notice that someone logged 55 hours last week. But they would miss that this person has been averaging 48 hours for two months, has not taken PTO in 6 months, and is increasingly working weekends.

AI analysis considers the full history and multiple factors simultaneously. It also normalizes for team and role context: 50 hours might be normal for a startup founder but concerning for a junior developer.

Aggregate team scores

Individual scores roll up to team-level metrics:

Team health score: Percentage of team members in GREEN status
Workload distribution: Whether work is spread evenly or concentrated on few people
Overtime trends: Team-wide overtime patterns over time
PTO utilization: Whether the team is taking appropriate time off

Managers can see their team's health at a glance without drilling into individual timesheets.

Acting on YELLOW and RED signals

Detection is only valuable if it leads to action. When BetterFlow surfaces a YELLOW or RED signal, it provides context and suggested actions:

YELLOW: Increasing overtime - "Sarah's hours have increased 15% over the past 4 weeks. Consider discussing workload in your next 1:1."

RED: Sustained overwork - "Mike has worked 50+ hours for 5 consecutive weeks with no PTO scheduled. Immediate workload review recommended."

The suggestions are guidelines, not mandates. Managers have context that AI does not: maybe Mike is voluntarily preparing for a product launch he is excited about. But the signal ensures the manager is aware and can make an informed decision.

Privacy considerations

Team Performance AI analyzes aggregate patterns, not specific activities. It does not know what Mike was working on during those 50 hours, only that the hours are high. This preserves privacy while still enabling intervention.

Employees can see their own scores and the factors contributing to them, making the system transparent rather than opaque.

About BetterFlow

Built by BetterQA, a software testing company. BetterFlow's Team Performance AI helps managers detect burnout risk early, when intervention can still help. Our GREEN/YELLOW/RED system makes complex patterns actionable.

Sources & References

Published by BetterQA, an ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified company with 8+ years of experience in software quality assurance. According to research by McKinsey, data-driven project management improves team productivity by up to 25%. Last updated on February 22, 2026.