58% Of Workers Spend Over Half Their Day Doing “Busy Work”

According to a recent Asana survey of over 10,600 workers worldwide, office workers spend more than half of their day performing busy work rather than the task for which they were hired for.

The annual work index, which was conducted in October 2021, people spent 58% of their day doing "work about work," which included:

• Seeking information, 

• Communicating about work, 

• Switching between applications, 

• Managing changing priorities, and 

• Tracking status updates.

Employees claim they squander over five hours per week, or six working weeks per year, due to some of this busy work, such as duplicate tasks and unnecessary meetings.

People report spending around 33% of their days doing skilled labour for which they were hired, an increase from the previous year. However, they only spend 10% of their time on strategic planning, which may help them perform better in their professions.

Overall, it contributes to a lack of focus at work and worsens burnout.

The lack of clarity causes workplace stress

Busy work has been an issue for decades as technology has provided individuals with new and frequent communication methods, and it has only worsened throughout Covid, according to Sahar Yousef, a cognitive neuroscientist at UC Berkeley and Asana spokesman.

Last year, workers reported spending more time on email, video calls, multitasking during virtual meetings, and feeling the need to respond to notifications instantly. Due to constant interruptions, 33% of workers claim their attention span is shorter than it was last year.

Yousef says that there's nothing intrinsically wrong with email or Slack, but the gap occurs when individuals don't know how or when to use them and end up "perpetually checking all platforms and giving them equal weight 24/7."

With the implementation of return-to-work programmes and hybrid arrangements, things could get complicated. According to Yousef, leaders may get ahead of it by setting better expectations: 

• Which channel is suitable to use, 

• How am I going to utilise them, and 

• What is the expected response time?

40% believe burnout cannot be avoided

Burnout has reached new heights after two years of living and working throughout the pandemic. Around the world, 40% of workers believe that burnout is an unavoidable component of success.

Workers believe that organisations should do more to assist employees in managing burnout by setting clearer and more achievable goals and providing better mental health tools.

They also desire more predictability in their schedules. 37% of individuals overall and 53% of Gen Z workers claim they don't have a set start or end time for their workday.

Remote work has clouded the workday hours, but Yousef adds that employees need to feel like they're making daily progress and finishing the correct tasks to finish their day.

Managers can provide individuals with better feedback to assist them in answering the question: 

• Is it clear to me on a daily basis what I have to do to succeed at this job?

• Is there a distinct beginning and finish to the day where I can execute certain activities that contribute to the overall impact of the organisation?

Yousef said that it is vital to have a clear start and end to the day, not only to avoid burnout but help people to feel good about their work.

Source: CNBC