Work About Work Dominates Time Spent On Skilled Work, Asana Study Reports

Take a moment to reflect on what your workplace skills are and why your company hired you. Are you an accomplished web developer, do you specialize in accounting, or are you an expert in creating marketing content? Now think about the hours in your work day and how much time is spent on tasks that utilize your unique skillset. If you are like most professionals around the world, you may be facing the reality that a mere 26% of your day is spent on skilled work – the work you were hired to actually do.

This new data is part of Asana’s recently launched Anatomy of Work Index 2021, a global study on over 13,000 professionals working in today’s modern-yet-disrupted workplace. Follow along as we unpack the top findings and how the Glances no-code integration platform can help reduce time wasted on work about work.

“Work about work is the activities that take time away from meaningful work, including communicating about work, searching for information, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities, and following up on the status of work.”

- Asana

What was once a passing thought or feeling of frustration for many employees is now a widely-reported statistic: work about work continues to be the mundane time-suck of the day. And hey, it’s not working well for any of us that are trying to be productive and check off the next to-dos on our project list. Asana reports that this “work” takes up a whopping 60% of our workday, with skilled work taking up 26% and growth strategy taking up 14%.

Infographic courtesy asana.com, Anatomy of Work Index 2021

Another time-wasting issue that’s on trend with the rise of remote work, multiple business apps, and communication issues is duplicate work – and unfortunately, U.S. businesses are suffering the most. “Teams are spending 13% of their time on work that’s already been completed, up from 10% the previous year. As a result, employees are losing 236 hours to duplication of efforts a year. While duplication is a global challenge, it’s a particular drain for U.S. organizations, with 308 hours wasted on it every year – a 31% increase over the global average,” Asana reported.

Infographic courtesy asana.com, Anatomy of Work Index 2021

The next efficiency offender is today’s ever-growing collection of business applications and how modern workers are tasked with adopting new platforms, then using them as part of their daily routines. Continually switching apps and switching contexts adds up to bigger productivity issues for companies, like disrupted workflows, wasted workday hours, and app overload fatigue. Below are the key findings from the Asana report on this very topic:

• On average, people switch between 10 apps 25 times per day to do their work
• In the U.S., employees change between 13 tools an average of 30 times per day
• 27% of workers say that actions and messages are missed when switching apps
• 26% of workers say app overload makes individuals less efficient
• 80% of respondents report working with their inbox or other communication apps open and 72% feel pressure to multitask during the day

Infographic courtesy asana.com, Anatomy of Work Index 2021

Getting back to productivity in today’s always-on workplace is achievable

If managing multiple apps, switching tabs (and contexts), and searching for the data you need is an everyday hassle for you and your team, Glances is designed to turn the clutter into clarity. Built as your go-to hub for customer insights and personal tasks, Glances securely connects all of your apps and provides a simplified view of the data you need in real time – no coding necessary.

Relying on popular business apps like Asana, Salesforce, Slack, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, or whatever your company requires to get your job done is unavoidable, but using Glances can help you streamline tasks and crush productivity goals, every workday. There are also other awesome benefits like the ability to share your glances with teammates, and save time and money for your company.

Glances works where you work

Glances Suite works by browser, desktop app, glances.com, or on mobile. Use the Glances Search tab to view real-time information on your contacts across multiple apps, or use the My Daily Glances tab to clearly see what’s next on your to-do list. With Asana as one of our many apps available for connection, see how it works below./p>

Glances delivers the single data view you need to work smarter, not harder

Schedule a demo to see the awesome benefits of Glances in action or ask our team questions.

If you need to connect a specific app with Glances that is not currently available on glances.com, please send your app requests to hello@glances.com.

Find more step-by-step articles with the latest information on our support site.

*Source: Asana Anatomy of Work Index 2021, “Overcoming disruption in a disrupted world”