One Corporate Workday Each Week is Wasted Time, Says WFD

Frustration With Low-Value Work is a Key Factor in Employee Burnout

Watertown, Massachusetts -How much time do employees spend on low-value work? An average of almost one full workday a week, says the consulting firm WFD in the current issue of its quarterly communication, It's About Time. 15-20% of an employee's workweek is spent taking care of tasks that could be streamlined or tossed altogether. In addition to a surprising waste of money and resources, lower productivity due to the hindrances of low-value work is also a key cause of employee frustration and burnout.

The statistic comes from data gathered in WFD's work with a variety of large U.S. companies, many of which are concerned about the effects of escalating work hours on employee commitment. "Time wasted on low-value work is a pervasive problem that's been on our radar for a long time," said Arlene Johnson, vice president of WFD. "Time is finite, but workload keeps expanding. When employee burnout leads to turnover, that's a problem for employers, more so in a tight labor market."

That doesn't mean that employees aren't willing to work hard.

"As invested as an employee might be in doing things that are important for the business, they become frustrated by low-value tasks when it interferes with their lives," explained Amy Richman, a WFD consultant who measures the impact of workload and stress.

"There's a strong relationship between how stressed employees are, their commitment to the company, and their intention to leave," continued Richman. "Implementing people-focused job redesign is one solution that can bring tremendous results. In that case the employee helps us figure out how they can do their own job more effectively and efficiently. There can be big payoffs for both the employee and the company."
Companies as diverse as Texas Instruments, J. P. Morgan, and Bank of America, whose efforts are discussed in the It's About Time article, found that the people-focused work redesign process brought some unexpected benefits, such as a 33% reduction in turnover in call centers over a four-month period.

For a copy of It's About Time, or for more information on WFD, its research, and its consulting services, visit the company website at www.wfd.com or contact Laurel Factor, Marketing Communications Manager, at 617-673-3280.

A pioneer in the field of work-life assessment and strategy development, WFD continues to develop innovative policies and programs, as well as much of the industry's leading-edge research on the business impact of work-life policies. Since its inception, WFD has helped hundreds of companies, including more than 20 percent of the Fortune 500, become more profitable through workplace flexibility, people-focused work redesign, women's advancement and retention strategies, and improved employee commitment.