Skip to content
Home » Blog » 1/3 of Workday is Spent Doing ‘Pointless’ Tasks

1/3 of Workday is Spent Doing ‘Pointless’ Tasks

A Survey of 2000 UK businesses reveals how outdated business technology is impacting employee productivity and satisfaction


(Oxford, UK, 11th June 2019) – A report of 2,000 UK office workers commissioned by Webexpenses, a business expense management provider, reveals new statistics regarding workplace efficiencies. Over half (55%) of the participants surveyed stated that a large part of their working day is occupied with “pointless” tasks, processes, and admin which they do not consider to be part of their job. The study found that the average employee spends 142 minutes a day on admin, manual paperwork, and ‘pointless’ meetings.

Additional findings of the study include:

  • 26 minutes of every standard workday is spent grappling with how to use old or failing technology.
  • 29 minutes is spent on paperwork.
  • 24 minutes are spent on manual processes, such as expense reimbursement claims.

The study also found that 40% believe their company has more manual processes for employees instead of more efficient ones. And 44% of workers claim their company’s tech is ‘woefully outdated’ - and could be to blame for the time wasted each day.

Hours spent on ‘pointless’ processes is having a negative effect on workers: 43% are not satisfied with the results of their work, and 50% feel they are duplicating their efforts due to lack of coordination between systems and departments.

The result: 45% of workers “very often” do not complete their assigned work and companies are footing the bill for approximately 1/3 of employee salaries.

“Upon receiving these results, the time spent on tasks that should barely take any time at all - like claiming back expenses or processing invoices - was astonishing,” stated Adam Reynolds, CEO of Webexpenses. “It’s clear that workers are frustrated at being part of a business that isn’t set up efficiently, as they literally spend hours on tasks which could otherwise be completed in half the time. We work with over 1500 companies worldwide and know first-hand the positive impact that process automation can make to a business.”

About Webexpenses

Webexpenses is a leading global provider of cloud-based travel and spend management software to businesses of all sizes. The company’s flagship expense management application provides automated financial processes and reporting for seamless digital workflow across company teams. The company’s product line also includes corporate travel management, invoice processing, online payments, and expense audit. The Webexpenses suite can be used as stand-alone products or bundled for a single solution.

With a client retention rate of over 98%, Webexpenses is now tried-and-tested with over 1,500 companies throughout the world, with over 250,000 users. By using Webexpenses, companies typically see savings of up to 10% in travel and expense costs and up to a 25% reduction in processing times.

Webexpenses was founded in 2000 and has offices in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia For more information, visit webexpenses.com.

###

Media contact: press@webexpenses.com