Biggest Time Wasters at Work and How to Avoid & Eliminate Them

Time wasters at work aren’t just a minor inconvenience — they’re a serious drain on your business’s productivity and bottom line. 

For business leaders, the goal is to optimize every workday. With complicated workflows and asynchronous schedules, distractions chip away at time that could be better spent driving your business forward.  

Understanding what constitutes a time waster is the first step in eliminating it. In this guide, we’ll discuss the most common time wasters in the workplace and share actionable strategies to eliminate existing time wasters and spot new ones before they become an issue.

What are time wasters?

Time wasters are day-to-day functions, occurrences, distractions, or bad habits that consume time that would otherwise be spent on working towards your goals. Examples might include tangible distractions like low-priority emails, unnecessary meetings, excessive breaks, or intangible qualities like perfectionism or procrastination. 

Statistics about time wasted at work

Even if you and your team pride yourselves on being productive, you may still fall into some time-wasting activities at work. 

Most of us struggle to maximize our work hours, as evidenced by statistics like these:

• Employees waste an average of 2 hours per workday
• The average worker is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes a day
• The average employee wastes about 8 hours weekly on personal tasks and mobile devices.
• 60% or less of work time is actually spent productively.

Despite the alarming statistics, you can boost team efficiency and eliminate time wasters to maximize your work time.

Why do employees waste time at work?

Employees waste time due to boredom, lack of focus, or bad habits. However, external factors such as distractions, unclear direction, inefficient workflows, and poor employee engagement can also lead to wasted time. 

If you find that employees are wasting time at work, make sure to: 

• Watch for signs of burnout. Time wasting can indicate feelings of overwhelm that stem from unrealistic expectations, excessive workloads, and burnout.
  
• Schedule one-on-ones to establish priorities. Lack of clear direction or priorities can leave employees feeling unproductive. By establishing priorities, they can better sort their workloads and understand what work to focus on.
  
• Cut down on unnecessary meetings. Excessive or unnecessary meetings can disrupt blocks of focus time and make it hard for employees to refocus. Fortunately, some tools can help you balance meeting and focus time. 

• Connect work to broader goals. When team members feel stuck, providing big-picture context on how their work impacts the company as a whole can help. Set clear KPIs, OKRs, and other metrics and articulate how day-to-day operations push the business forward. 

• Look to technology. Time tracking software with built-in employee productivity features can give managers a glimpse into time-wasting activities while helping employees set personal productivity goals. Look for features like idle timeouts, employee monitoring features, and activity tracking to ensure teams are focused on the right priorities.
  

How much does wasting time at work cost employers?

Time wasting costs companies billions. Work time lost to frequent distractions costs U.S. businesses an estimated $650 billion per year. On an individual level, the average employee can cost businesses thousands of dollars. 

If time tracking goes unchecked, here are a few examples of the many costly consequences that lead to these jarring numbers: 

• Buddy punching. Buddy punching (when an employee clocks in on behalf of another) affects 75% of businesses and can cost businesses over $1500 per employee.
  
• Time theft. The act of time theft costs businesses up to $50 billion annually.
  
• Unnecessary meetings. While some meetings are crucial, unnecessary meetings, excessive guest lists, and other meeting mistakes cost businesses nearly $40 billion annually. 

These costly mistakes barely scratch the surface regarding the biggest time wasters. Let’s delve in and take a closer look. 

What are the biggest workplace time wasters?

There are always plenty of distractions, from the co-worker who constantly stops by to chat to the relentless pings of incoming emails. Interruptions sabotage your focus and productivity. Identifying your time wasters is your first step in minimizing them.

Let’s break down the most common time wasters so you can identify the traps you and your team might fall into.

1. Overwhelming emails

Emails are necessary for workplace communication, but they can quickly become overwhelming and heavily affect workplace productivity.

Impact: 

Employees receive around 121 emails per day, and it’s estimated that 28% of work time is spent reading and responding to emails. This constant influx of messages interrupts focus and prolongs task completion times, making emails one of the most common time wasters.

Practical steps:

• Set designated email times: Encourage your team to check emails at specific daily intervals to prevent constant disruptions. Hubstaff’s time tracking can be used to track how much time is spent on emails and help identify periods of high email activity, reducing this major time waster.

• Promote alternative communication: Encourage the use of project management tools like Hubstaff’s Tasks add-on for internal communication, reducing reliance on emails for team discussions. This helps prevent one task from becoming a productivity drain, improves time management skills, and minimizes email-related time wasters at work.

2. Instant message notifications

Instant messaging platforms like Slack are integral for team communication, but can also be a significant source of distraction, often contributing to time wasted at work. Frequent pings can disrupt deep work, leading to a loss of focus and productivity.

Impact: 

Research shows that it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus after an interruption, highlighting how instant messages can become one of the biggest time wasters in the workplace.

Practical steps:

• Implement ‘do not disturb’ periods: Encourage employees to block off time during their day when they aren’t available for instant messaging. Hubstaff can help employees manage these periods, ensuring they have uninterrupted time for deep work and reducing these time wasters.
  
• Establish communication policies: Set clear guidelines on when to use instant messaging versus other forms of communication like email or project management tools. 

Hubstaff’s Insights can track time spent on messaging platforms, identifying areas for improvement and helping to avoid wasting time. Hubstaff’s productivity research found that 

3. Unnecessary meetings

While essential, meetings can often become time wasters if they are not well-planned or too frequent. Many meetings lack a clear agenda, leading to unproductive discussions and contributing to the list of common workplace time wasters.

Impact: 

Employees spend over five hours per week in meetings, with 67% reporting that these meetings prevent them from doing their best work, making them one of the primary time wasters at work.

Practical steps:

• Require clear agendas: Ensure every meeting has a specific purpose and only invite essential team members. When scheduling meetings, it’s important to establish a clear agenda and set time limits to maintain focus and productivity. Hubstaff can monitor the time spent in meetings and evaluate their effectiveness, helping to set time limits on meeting durations.
  
• Schedule meeting-free days: Designate certain days of the week as meeting-free to allow for uninterrupted work. Hubstaff’s time tracking platform includes scheduling tools that make it easy to set and enforce meeting-free days. This ensures teams have dedicated blocks for focused work, reducing context switching and preventing tasks from piling up.

4. Multitasking

Doing two things at once doesn’t mean accomplishing two things at once.

While multitasking is often seen as a way to get more done, it actually decreases productivity by splitting focus and increasing the likelihood of errors, making it one of the more deceptive time wasters.

Impact: 

Multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%, as it takes longer to complete tasks and often results in lower-quality work. Engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously can make it harder to complete one task effectively.

Practical steps:

• Encourage single-tasking: Promote a culture of focusing on one task at a time. Hubstaff can help employees see how much time they are spending on each task, encouraging them to complete one task before moving on to the next, reducing multitasking-related time wasters.
  
• Use task prioritization tools: Hubstaff time tracking provides visibility into how employees use their work hours, creating a culture of accountability and minimizing distractions. 

5. Mundane and repetitive tasks

Repetitive tasks like data entry or manual reporting can consume valuable time that could be better spent on more strategic activities, contributing significantly to time wasters in the workplace.

Impact: 

It’s estimated that the average worker spends about one workday each week on repetitive tasks that could be automated, highlighting their role as common workplace time wasters.

Practical steps:

• Automate repetitive tasks: Use automation tools or an automatic time tracker to handle mundane tasks, such as data entry or reporting. Hubstaff integrates with various automation platforms to reduce time spent on these tasks, freeing up employees for higher-value work and eliminating these time wasters.
  
• Monitor task efficiency: Did you know that less than half of work time goes to core, high-impact work? Hubstaff’s time tracking platform powers workforce analytics that reveal how much time is being spent on routine tasks. These insights help managers identify opportunities for automation or process improvements, cutting down on wasted hours.

6. Social media

Social media is a major source of distraction in the workplace. While a quick check might seem harmless, it can easily turn into a prolonged session of browsing, making it one of the more challenging time wasters to control.

Impact: 

Employees spend an average of 1.5 hours per day on social media during work hours, which can add up to nearly a full workday each week, making it one of the most significant time wasters at work.

Practical steps:

• Set clear usage policies: Implement policies that limit social media use during work hours. Hubstaff’s app and URL tracking features can help monitor social media usage and identify employees who might need additional support in managing their time, reducing these time wasters.
  
• Encourage scheduled breaks: Allow employees to take scheduled breaks where they can check social media, helping to satisfy their need for a mental break without impacting work. Use Hubstaff to ensure these breaks are kept within reasonable limits.
  

7. Disorganization

A cluttered workspace or disorganized digital files can lead to wasted time searching for documents or tools needed to complete a task, making disorganization one of the most common workplace time wasters.

Impact:

Disorganization can cost employees 7.8 hours each week, as they struggle to find the information they need to do their jobs effectively, contributing significantly to time wasters at work.

Practical steps:

• Implement organizational systems: Encourage employees to maintain a clean workspace and implement digital filing systems. Tasks can be used to organize projects and tasks, ensuring that all necessary information is easily accessible and reducing these time wasters.
  
• Regular clean-up sessions: Schedule regular clean-up sessions to declutter workspaces and organize digital files. Use Hubstaff to monitor how much time is being saved as a result of these efforts, helping to reduce the impact of common workplace time wasters.
  

8. Lack of planning

Without proper planning, employees may spend too much time deciding what to do next, leading to inefficiency and missed deadlines, which is one of the more subtle but impactful time wasters at work.

Impact: 

Employees without a clear plan can lose hours each week due to indecision and lack of direction, turning what could be productive time into one of the more prevalent time wasters.

Practical steps:

• Daily and weekly planning sessions: Encourage your team to spend time at the beginning of each day or week to plan out their tasks. Hubstaff’s Tasks add-on can help with setting priorities and deadlines, ensuring that everyone is aligned and focused on their goals, thereby reducing these time wasters.
  
• Use time tracking for accountability: Hubstaff can provide insights into how well employees are sticking to their plans and where adjustments may be needed, helping to mitigate time wasters at work and ensuring that each task is completed efficiently.

9. Work from home distractions

Remote work invites a whole new share of challenges. Work from home distractions ranging from household chores, TV, video games, and doctor’s appointments can make otherwise productive workers distracted. 

Impact:

Home-related distractions like family, pets, roommates, and multitasking on chores can have a significant impact on productivity. These distractions can also have negative affects on productivity and quality of work if left unchecked.

Practical steps:

• Set clear boundaries. Just as you would in an office, encourage remote workers to take breaks for social media, chores, family needs, appointments, and other distractions. Time management methods like time blocking can help here.
  
• Leverage productivity monitoring. Hubstaff’s time tracking software with built-in employee productivity monitoring helps managers identify distracted remote workers with features like idle timeouts, keyboard and mouse activity levels, and app and URL tracking. In fact, Hubstaff users average 50 more minutes of focus time per day (4+ hours per week) than their in-office counterparts. 

10. Unhelpful tools

Oftentimes, time wasting at work is well-intentioned. In other words, employees may be struggling to use their time effectively due to outdated or ineffective software. If you find multiple team members consistently missing deadlines or delivering subpar work, you may need to look at the technology you’re using and the workflows you’ve built. 

Impact:

In remote and hybrid environments especially, modern workforces rely on software to achieve their day-to-day responsibilities. These days, gaps and inefficiencies in one’s tech stack make it next to impossible to hit deadlines and produce one’s best work. 

Practical steps:

• Audit your tech stack: Audit your tech stack early and often. Features like Hubstaff’s app and URL tracking can help you identify the tools your team uses the most (and which ones you should stop paying for).
  
• Adopt streamlined solutions. Whether it’s AI solutions like ChatGPT, project management tools like Asana, or communication software like Slack, empowering your team with high-end technology is crucial. If inefficiency persists, it may be time to look at time tracking software with built-in employee productivity features.
  

Why is it important to address time wasters?

Identifying time wasters is important for saving businesses time, money, and peace of mind. Time-wasting activities like unnecessary meetings, inefficient workflows, and unclear priorities can also negatively impact employee morale and lead to burnout and high turnover. 

How to encourage your team to stop wasting time at work

By understanding how your time is spent, you can empower your team to be more efficient and productive—without making them feel pressured.

Here are a few ways to stop employees from wasting time at work.

1. Get actionable workforce insights

With a time tracking software with workforce management solutions, you can gain insights into how your team works so you can better manage employee time and engagement. 

At Hubstaff, we know how important it is to get detailed insights into how your team works, so we created our Insights add-on. With Insights, you can measure your workforce productivity with performance management features and compare it with industry benchmarks. 

With workforce analytics, it’s easy to delegate tasks and ensure your team doesn’t lose focus. Integrate your favorite project management system and assign tasks to your team so they can track time to them.

2. Encourage time tracking

It’s hard to use your time more efficiently if you don’t know how to use it now.

That’s why time tracking and productivity software are so helpful. With app and URL tracking, apps like Hubstaff will give you and your team a detailed picture of where your time is going.

Often, there’s a big difference between what you remember doing during the day and what the recorded time tracking data shows. You might think you only spent 20 minutes browsing social media yesterday, but the report indicates that it was more like 95 minutes.

Like every 12-step program says, admitting you have a problem is the first step.

Worried that your team will buck against this type of monitoring? That’s a valid concern. And 79% of employees say it’s okay for their employers to monitor their work-related tasks.

It’s also a good idea to consider how you implement employee monitoring for the best possible results. 

At Hubstaff, we highly stress the importance of getting employee buy-in for sustained time tracking success. When you approach time tracking as a group effort and welcome feedback from your employees, you’ll be more likely to get employees to track time — and see less resistance in the process. 

3. Schedule time for deep work

You know firsthand that getting into a flow state is challenging when interrupted.

Do your team a favor by leaving enough time for focused, deep work.

You can schedule a team-wide, meeting-free block of time or designate a specific day with no meetings allowed. Encourage people to block off time on their calendars for uninterrupted work.

If you work in an office, you and your team might want to decide on a signal (like wearing headphones) that lets other people know you’re zoned in and shouldn’t be interrupted. For remote teams, do-not-disturb mode is your friend.

4. Make meeting agendas mandatory

Say so long to the meetings that should’ve been emails.

Consider establishing virtual meeting best practices, like requiring every meeting to have an agenda, so your team needs to think clearly about what they want to cover. You’ll use the time more wisely and cut down on unnecessary attendance.

With a roadmap for every meeting, you have productive conversations rather than bull sessions. 

Have a goal in mind, and handle all your brainstorming and ideation beforehand.

This will remove a lot of unproductive meetings from your calendar. You’ll identify topics that can easily be covered in an email and cancel anything that isn’t ready for a group discussion yet.

Say “so long” to the meetings that should’ve been emails.

5. Offer the right tools

Don’t waste your team’s brilliance on easily automated tasks. Provide tools that can automatically handle some of their most time-consuming to-dos.

Zapier and IFTTT are popular solutions that link apps and automate basic tasks. Agile project management software can easily automate workflows and move work forward with a single click.

You can also look to tools like Hubstaff to streamline time tracking, payroll, invoicing, and other processes to help your business run more efficiently. You can also use it to spot time wasters with built-in employee productivity features like: 

• Time spent on apps and URLs
• Idle timeouts for inactive users
• Keyboard and mouse activity 
• Optional screenshots

What are real-life examples of time wasters?

Real-life time wasters may include things like outside noise, workplace gossip, or unproductive meetings. For remote workers, these distractions may also involve family, pets, disorganized schedules, and general inefficient work habits like procrastination and multitasking. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Workplace Time Wasters

How do time wasters affect productivity?

Time wasters have a direct impact on productivity. For example, the Hubstaff Workstyle Revolution report found that workers spend 43% of their week on non-core activities and 8% on unproductive work. This means businesses see less than 50% of their team’s time spent on “core work” that directly impacts business outcomes. 

Which is the most concerning time waster in the workplace?

Arguably the biggest time waster for teams is unproductive meetings. Some studies have shown that employees spend more than 50% of the work week (21.5 hours) in meetings. Tools like Insights can help teams balance meeting and focus time, increase time spent on core work, and drive better outcomes.

How much time a week does an average worker waste at work?

Estimates suggest that the average worker wastes nearly 15 hours per week at work. There are also reports that social media consumes nearly 8 hours per week and unnecessary meetings taking up 21.5 hours of the workweek. 

Who wastes the most time at work?

While virtually all employees have been known to waste time at work, industries like broadcasting and journalism have the highest percentage of time wasted online at over 60%. Of course, this doesn’t account for all wasted times as other industries may see more time lost to meetings, travel, and frequent interruptions. 

How can you measure time wasters?

You can measure time wasters with time tracking software with built-in performance insights. Tools like Hubstaff allow you to track time to tasks and projects to see the time users spend on tasks and projects, meetings, and distractions like social media. 

How do you know what your team is wasting time working on?

A great way to identify what your team is wasting work time on is to utilize app and URL tracking features on a time tracking tool. Apps like Hubstaff allow you to see time spent on specific apps and websites to identify time wasters like excessive social media usage. 

Wasted time at work? Nip it in the bud

Losing time and money to time-wasters is frustrating and harmful to the future of your business, but you can take control. 

With Hubstaff’s time tracking tools with built-in employee productivity monitoring, you can: 

• Identify time-wasting apps and URLs
• Optimize workflows with an improved tech stack based on those findings
• Cut down on costly, unnecessary meetings 
• Carve out more focus time for high-value work

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