5 Shocking Revelations From the UK Workplace

What’s really happening in UK companies?5 Shocking Revelations From Workfront’s 2016 Uk State of Enterprise Work Report

IntroductionOffice workers and the organisations they work in are constantly striving to be more productive, to rise to the increasing intensity of competition in their markets. But what keeps them from being as productive, effective, and competitive as they aspire to be? To answer this question, Workfront, the leading provider of enterprise work management solutions, surveyed 2,051 UK officer workers. The results of the survey might surprise you…

Finding #1: UK officer workers think of themselves as productive

92% of officer workers feel productive at their jobs

96% rate themselves as “very or quite productive”85% say the same about their co-workers65% say the same about their manager60% say the same about company leadership

Finding #2: This productivity comes at a cost

The “lunch hour” is no more! Nearly half of office workers spend 30 minutes or less on lunch

52% delay going to the bathroom to meet a deadline

77% log into work/work email outside of normal business hours during the week47% do this every day62% log into work/work email at weekends

In other words, to be more productive, office workers must “create” extra time from lunch, bathroom breaks, mornings, evenings, and weekends.What’s driving this?

Finding #3: Office workers aren’t getting their real work done during standard work hours

When asked why they log into work outside of standard business hours…34% said, “To get ahead of work”31% said, “Too much work to do”

Which raises the question: what is keeping office workers from completing their real work within standard business hours?

Finding #4: Phone calls, meetings, and email are pushing out real work

4 in 10 say phone calls, meetings, and email get in the way of work

After email, meetings, and other administrative tasks, half of office workers say they have 40% or less of their time left for their primary job duties

In other words, much of our efforts at workplace communication are keeping workers from doing the work they were hired to do.

Finding #5: Poor work communication is causing inter-departmental conflict

When asked what the most common source of inter-departmental conflict was…27% said lack of understanding about timing or urgency of tasks37% said conflicting priorities46% said lack of communication/miscommunication

Finding #6: That conflict is killing more than just productivity

When asked what the most common consequence of this conflict was…1 in 3 said lost productivity27% said missed deadlines41% said low morale/high turnover