'Work about work' robs large employers of 63% of productivity
Teams are spending 30% more time on duplication of work and work deemed a waste of time compared to a year ago.
Workers are spending more time on “work about work” than on the job they were hired to perform. As a result, companies with more than 5,000 employees lose 63% of their time each week.
“Over the past year, there has been a dramatic shift in the way teams and organizations work,” said Dr. Sahar Yousef, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California-Berkeley. “‘Work about work’ has skyrocketed in the form of unproductive meetings and calls, and an increase in email and chat usage, especially during evenings and weekends. Considering the continued rise in burnout numbers we have been seeing, our research suggests that unless organizations take a proactive approach, productivity is projected to plummet in 2021.”
Related: Improving employee communication: 34 billion work emails go right to the trash
This was one of the key insights of the Anatomy of Work Index 2021 conducted by Asana. The survey included more than 13,000 knowledge workers in the United States and across the globe. Among the other key findings:
- 87% of employees are working late — 455 hours in 2020 compared to 242 hours the previous year.
- One in four deadlines are missed each week as a result of unrealistic expectations and unclear processes. U.S. workers miss 36% of their deadlines each week, more than anywhere else in the world.
- Teams are spending 30% more time on duplication of work and work deemed a waste of time year-over-year. Nearly 6.5 hours a week are wasted on duplicated work in the United States, higher than everywhere else and up from nearly five hours last year, a 21% increase.
- New hires spend 21% of their time on work that’s already been completed, nearly twice as much time as their more established colleagues.
- As the workday extends, three in four employees are struggling to disconnect from work, with 70% experiencing burnout at least once in 2020. Almost nine in 10 U.S workers have experienced burnout in the last year, more than any other region.
- Nearly two-thirds experienced imposter syndrome in 2020. Seventy-four% of U.S. workers have experienced it in the past year, with U.S. men (80%) reporting it more frequently than women (69%).
- Around the world, the top three barriers to productivity are having too much work to do, having to respond to too many emails and message pings, and having too many meetings and video calls.
“Before COVID-19, there was a rapidly rising business imperative for increased clarity and alignment,” said Dustin Moskovitz, CEO of Asana “Clarity is really difficult for teams to achieve even when they’re in the office, but it’s particularly challenging when working remotely.”
On the positive side, two-thirds of respondents believe the skills required to do their job will evolve in 2021 with IT and technology proficiency, confidence and leadership development cited as the top three areas for personal growth. Across all employees surveyed, 73% believe that organizations can be more resilient in 2021 if plans are flexible.
“Organizations and leaders must address these issues head-on by adopting clear processes on how work gets done, so they can thrive in the year ahead and come out more resilient and aligned than before,” Yousef concluded.
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