Objective To analyze the association between the productivity loss of nursing workers and workloads in a teaching hospital. Method Descriptive study with a quantitative approach, conducted with nursing workers. A structured data collection instrument and the Work Limitations Questionnaire were used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical statistics, with the Kruskal Wallis test and the Spearman rank correlation. Results A total of 211 nursing workers participated in the study. They had an average of 6.38% of lost productivity; 75% of nursing technicians showed 9.57% of productivity loss, followed by nurses (8.75%) and nursing aides (8.50%). The units presenting the highest productivity loss were surgical clinic (8.81%), and medical clinic (8.58%). The rate of productivity loss was significantly associated with chemical loads (p=0.044) and with mechanical loads (p=0.041). Conclusion Workers presented productivity loss and work limitations associated with workloads, which shows they have difficulty performing the activities in part of the work time.