A new study by project management company Wrike (opens in a new tab) suggests that operational inefficiencies waste employees a lot of time.
According to the study, companies with around 3000 employees lose up to €52 million a year in lost time due to unproductive meetings, duplicate efforts, information retrieval and status checks.
An additional €8,2 million was found to be wasted each year on delayed or canceled projects, while employee turnover was said to be nearly half a million dollars over a twelve-month period.
Wrike says the digital age has "created a new level of chaos and misalignment," costing companies millions in what the company calls "dark matter" in the workplace. Surveyed knowledge workers say they use an average of 14 apps and software daily, nine of which were implemented as a result of the pandemic.
Improve company communication.
Despite attending a total of 18 meeting days per year, 59% of business leaders complained that they had trouble tracking employee performance.
Communication platforms are the main culprit behind the study's findings, with 86% of business leaders surveyed having adopted new communication and collaboration tools to support hybrid work routines. Additionally, it was found that workers receive an average of almost 300 work-related messages every day.
The effects can be seen beyond large companies, as the study found that a company with 100 employees could lose more than €1,65 million each year. At the other end of the scale, multinationals with more than 100 employees could waste more than $000 billion a year.
In addition to the obvious financial implications, almost two-thirds of knowledge workers feel overworked, making their work environment less attractive and potentially increasing staff turnover.
If the company's "dark matter" is not acted on over the next five years, according to Wrike, its effects will increase by 53%. In an effort to "create a single source of information for work," more than eight in 10 companies that participated in the survey are looking to invest in technologies such as artificial intelligence and workflow automation.