Are you generating revenue or, otherwise, what productivity are you measuring?
Without generating revenue (which to be clear is a very good proxy to measure impact) everyone can be indeed very prolific in their hobbies. But labor market is about making money for a living and unless you can directly impact your day-to-day needs from your work, it can't be called productive.
At my previous employer, I was generating $2.5million per year (revenue per employee). I didn't ship a single line of code. All the time was spent trying to convince various stake holders.
Now, I have already built a couple of apps that help me better manage my tech news (keeps me sane) plus I am writing a blog that generates $0. It's only been a month.
If you measure the immediate dollar value, you are right. But in life, pay-offs are not always realized immediately. Just my opinion anyway.