Time management is crucial for any company that values efficiency and output. Unfortunately, many organizations are yet to take it seriously, as about 82% of companies don’t use time management systems in their daily corporate activities.
Properly implementing time management practices improves productivity, sense of accomplishment, and record time for tasks, increasing sales and revenue for both employees and management. About 44% of workers admitted they spend the most time weekly in meetings, resulting in less time for focused work.
Below are some eye-opening statistics on time management and its numerous benefits to businesses and professionals.
Editor’s Choice
- Microbusiness owners spend 16 hours on financial admin tasks weekly.
- Employees waste 12% of their daily working hours on social media.
- As of April 2023, employees in the logging and mining industry work 45.5 hours per week.
- Despite readily available time-tracking apps and resources, only 17% of people track their time.
- By the end of 2022, 25% of all professional jobs in North America became remote.
- 54% of students believe better time management skills can improve academic performance.
- 95% of college students procrastinate.
- Indian citizens worked for an average of 2,117 hours per year, the highest in the world in 2021.
- Germany had an average of 25.8 work hours per week in 2021.
- In 2022, 59% of employees experienced extreme fatigue at some point.
General Statistics on Time Management
Time management helps people work efficiently. It aids in setting goals and objectives for work or chores. However, only 18% of people adopt a time management strategy despite its importance, according to a 2022 study from Acuity Training.
There’s a need for more tools and awareness of proper time management. The stats below will support and explain this strategy’s importance.
1. About 82% of people don’t use a proper time management system.
(Clockify, Development Academy)
Development Academy cited that 82% of people don’t use any time management system. 33% reported relying only on simple to-do lists to manage their work, and 25% said they perform tasks by dealing with what feels most important.
In comparison, 24% rely only on email inboxes to manage their priorities and time. That’s because 86% of professionals prefer email as their business communication.
Most people find time management tools to be bothersome or, ironically, time-consuming, so they rely on simple tools instead.
2. Miners and loggers work an average of 45.5 hours per week as of April 2023.
(Bureau of Labour Statistics)
Statistics on time management show that those in the mining and logging industry worked the most in 2023, making 9.1 hours every day. Utility-related employees follow this with 42.6 hours per week, while leisure and hospitality staff worked the least, with 25.4 hours weekly.
Jobs that require laborious work have employees churn out more hours every week. This is due to filling workloads to reach quotas. The same is happening for gig workers who also have extended hours. However, they make 40% less than the minimum wage that labor employees often get.
3. 54% of college students think better organizational skills will improve their performance in school.
(Clockify, Reliable Plant)
Organizational skills are of utmost importance for various aspects of life— especially in academic studies and later careers. That said, 54% of students said their grades and overall performance would be better if they had better organizational skills.
The statistics show that 47% of undergrads believe their high school did not teach them enough organizational skills to prepare for college. Additionally, 48% of those who still need a management system complete their tasks by writing them down by hand.
4. Office-based employees spend 2 hours of the day browsing through their email inboxes.
(Clockify, Independent UK)
A UK study on the habits of 2,000 office workers showed that employees waste an average of 2 hours checking their email inboxes daily. That’s 30 working days for an entire year.
They spend half of that time on:
- Checking inboxes for new messages
- Emails that could’ve been a quick call
- Accidentally re-reading old emails
Across the ocean, US citizens have a similar habit. Easy email access has encouraged American professionals to check emails every 37 minutes or 15 times daily. It’s typical for working individuals to browse email apps frequently.
| 🎉 Fun Fact 17% of Americans check their inboxes even during a conversation. This phenomenon is called phubbing, the habit of favoring your phone when dealing with real-life interactions. |
Time Management Statistics at Work
Time management is most helpful in the workplace. With it, you can focus on tasks with the highest priority and dedicate the rest of your time to other essential endeavors.
However, time management isn’t used as much in today’s work environment. Despite the average working week of 40 hours or more, a lot of time is wasted in searching for documents, pointless meetings, and procrastination. These collectively lead to a 40% plummet in productivity.
Here are more time management statistics that support this concern:
5. Companies spend as much as 28 days a year looking for paper documents.
(DocuSign)
Despite the influx of organization technologies in the market, such as digitization and document management software, many companies still prefer doing things old-fashioned.
Unfortunately, these companies don’t have enough funds to build servers to house and help organize their data and make them available to their employees. Sacrificing time to store and look for old-fashion paper and folders is a budget-friendly compromise.
6. Senior managers spend 23 hours in meetings weekly.
(Gitnux)
On average, employees attend 62 monthly meetings, and senior executives spend nearly 23 hours in them weekly.
Consequently, many employees admit that unnecessary meetings waste time during workdays. 67% feel that spending too much time discussing matters hampers productivity, taking up 15% of an organization’s time.
7. The average UK employee procrastinated 2 hours and 9 minutes daily in 2019.
(Factorial HR)
A 2019 MusicMagpie survey cited that among 2,000 British workers, the average procrastination time was 2 hours and 9 minutes daily. More specifically, men wasted more time than women, with 2 hours and 51 minutes, compared to their female peers’ 1 hour and 52 minutes.
The following year, the average UK worker spent roughly 2 hours procrastinating, costing businesses £21 billion.
One major cause of procrastination is screen time. All internet users spend about 6 hours and 37 mins online. This, of course, includes workers from the UK.
8. In 2021, India had the highest annual average working hours, with 2,117.
(Clockify)
The number of hours people work varies by country due to different cultural, geopolitical, and economic factors.
In 2021, India had the highest annual average working hours of 2,117. In sharp contrast, Germany’s more progressive views on work positioned the country at the bottom of the list, with 1,354 hours per year. That’s about 25.8 hours per week, nearly half of the traditional 40-hour week.
Other countries with lower working hours are:
- France — 1,490 hours per year
- The Netherlands — 1,497 hours per year
Time Management Education Statistics
Based on the time management statistics for college students, it’s clear why today’s education can be inefficient. Most students lack the organization and time management skills to achieve better grades.
Moreover, teachers have limited classroom time while dealing with distractions like uninterested pupils and relentless paperwork.
Here are statistics on how time management affects students and the education sector in general.
9. 95% of college students procrastinate.
(Web Tribunal, Solving Procrastination)
95% of college students choose to procrastinate. As such, 87% of them admitted that with better time management skills.
Furthermore, most students admitted to using traditional handwritten notes on a calendar to manage their time. 50% said they don’t use one unified system to arrange their lecture notes, contacts, research, and assignments.
With the growing rate of technology, students now find it harder to stay away from the screen and procrastinate. For example, more than 50% of American TikTok users are aged 18 to 34, a range that’s likely filled with students; and they spend a daily average of 52 minutes on the app.
10. Ideally, students should devote 20 hours a week to studying.
(Ottawa University)
Students often need help planning their time because they usually cram when dealing with exams, rushing to study at the last minute.
According to Ottawa University, students should set aside 20 hours per week for learning. That includes the 15 hours they spend in classes and 5 hours for individual study sessions.
11. Only 24% of teachers spend 10+ hours a week providing whole-class instruction.
(Ed Choice)
The 2022 National Survey of Educators in District, Charter, and Private Schools reported that
81% of teachers used classroom time for direct, whole-class instruction. However, only 24% did that over 10 hours a week.
Moreover, 58% of the teachers stated that students with disciplinary issues often interrupted their class times. And 47% had to steal 1 hour to address those issues.
Teachers spend less time directly instructing students. That’s because they need breaks, the time between lessons, paperwork, unruly students, and other activities.
Statistics On The Benefits of Time Management
Happy employees are productive, and a productive workplace reaps financial benefits. According to time management skills statistics, employees can make their staff happier in many ways. From engaging staff to offering flexible working, here’s how it all comes together:
12. Only 17% of people track their own time.
(Team Stage)
About 83% of employees don’t bother monitoring how they spend their time, despite the high availability of tracking apps. Only 17% track their time, even though they admitted that adopting time management practices increases productivity.
Some reasons for these reservations involve time apps offering limited benefits and people finding tracking too laborious.
Another significant factor is social media usage. Instagram alone eats up an average of 30.1 minutes of an American’s day. Minimizing social media exposure does wonders for productivity and mental health, but it’s difficult.
| ✅ Pro Tip If you’re having trouble tracking time, make a Time Block. It helps you focus on critical work and reduces the chances of switching between unrelated tasks.To do this, follow these steps: Step 1. Schedule blocks on your daily calendar. Step 2. Dedicate these zones to tasks that can’t be interrupted or rescheduled. Step 3. Place similar tasks inside one block. |
13. An average American worker spends 55 minutes commuting to and from work daily.
(Zippia, Headphones Addict)
In the US, employees commuting to work and back takes most of their time daily. On average, they spend 27.6 minutes traveling just one way or 55 minutes daily.
If managed correctly, commuting can be put to good use. 73% of commuters listen to audiobooks during their travels, using the “free time” to listen to novels or self-improvement books.
14. 25% of all professional jobs in North America were remote by the end of 2022.
(Forbes)
In 2021, over one-third of organizations in the US could not make formal arrangements for remote working. Nonetheless, 14 enterprises with work-from-home policies were created and adopted the following year. More companies followed suit until 25% of all professional jobs in North America became remote by the end of 2022.
As companies transitioned to remote and hybrid work setups, 60% planned to invest in virtual collaboration tools. These tools improve productivity even when workers are situated in their homes.
Statistics on Poor Time Management
Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.
Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker, and Author
Poor time management has many faces. Business owners waste up to a third of their week through low-value activities. People skip important meals and stop attending a health club after 30 days. Whatever shape or form, time wasters are evident in different corners of society. Below are prime examples:
15. Micro-business owners wasted approximately 16 hours on financial admin tasks in 2022.
(LinkedIn)
Entrepreneurs spent 19% of their productive time on tasks accountants and bookkeepers could do. For sole trader companies, 31% of their week is spent just going to duties in the same area. No wonder 10% of small business enterprises fail within the first year.
As these small companies contribute towards GDP, it’s time for the government to aid in these processes. One way to do this is to subsidize affordable services and spread awareness about hiring the right professionals.
16. On average, staff spent over 12% of their daily time on social media in 2022.
(Zippia)
Since social media is now essential to people’s daily lives, it takes up a large chunk of their time. Employees use social media apps to get on with the latest news and find updates about work, family, and the industry.
However, it has become bothersome during working hours. An average person spends around 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media every day. That could have been used to do something productive.
17. 66% of full-time employees believed they needed a work-life balance.
(Gitnux, BetterUp)
A healthy work-life balance is about managing time and energy for professional and personal activities and commitments while having enough time for self-care.
In 2021, 66% of full-time employees believed they had no work-life balance and needed it. For one thing, they found bringing work at home normal, a prime indicator of overworking. This leads to stress, poor time management, and difficulty setting boundaries at work.
Effectiveness of Time Management to the Overall Well-being
Effective time management can boost your well-being, life satisfaction, and professional performance.
According to Concordia University, those with effective time management techniques felt more in control of their lives and were less stressed. Additionally, they sleep more and are generally happier.
More of these effects can be seen in the statistics below:
18. In 2022, remote workers scored 75 on the Workforce Happiness Index.
(Hero Hunt)
A Happiness Index (HI) is a survey that measures people’s happiness in 10 different areas of their lives. The index ranges from 1 to 100.
Time management and happiness statistics show that people working from home have a Workforce Happiness Index (WHI) of about 75, higher than the average.
This agrees with 57% of remote employees who said they had high job satisfaction. In contrast, only 50% of their office-working counterparts felt the same.
| 💡Did You Know? Truly happy employees are 12% more productive than nonchalant ones and 22% more productive than their unhappy counterparts. According to TheHappinessIndex.com, a happy staff also earns the company more money, boosting sales by 37%. |
19. Sleeping 7-8 hours each night makes you happier and more productive
(Lifehack)
Sleeping eight hours a night works wonders for your professional life. Getting adequate sleep promotes productivity, sets the mood for the day, and clears the mind for more work to be done.
20. People get about 60 interruptions daily.
(Team Stage, Dokumen)
People receive one interruption every eight minutes, or about seven interruptions every hour, adding up to 50 to 60 of them a day.
The average interruption takes five minutes, for approximately four hours or 50% of the average workday. These can be cluttered desks, lost things, environmental distractions, random messages, and unimportant calls.
21. 59% of employees experienced burnout symptoms in 2022.
(Zippia)
According to time management statistics for 2022, 59% of employees experienced extreme fatigue at some point in their careers. And 31% of them reported incredibly high stress levels. In America, 61% of employees were reportedly burned out.
These are worrying figures considering stress and fatigue directly affect performance and health. For companies, these lead to low productivity and revenues. For the individual, these can cause physical and mental health issues and problems in family and relationships.
Wrap-Up
Time is the most precious, non-renewable resource. Time management is the allocation of that finite resources in work and play. It contributes to avoiding adverse outcomes like missing failing a business and experiencing burnout.
People are more deliberate in spending their days by promoting time management habits. They can get things done, feel satisfied with their work productivity, and still have enough time for personal matters. Good and effective time management can basically improve your life.
FAQs
How many people struggle with time management?
82% of people don’t use any time management system, and about 33% reported relying on simple to-do lists to manage their work.
What are the four types of time management?
The 4 Ds are: Do, Defer (Delay), Delegate, and Delete (Drop). Applying any of these categories helps you manage your limited time more effectively and stay focused on what matters most to you.
What are the 7 steps of time management?
Steps in time management include doing time audits, blocking out distractions, adopting schedules, avoiding multitasking, setting boundaries, keeping your mind away from distractions, and finding downtime for rest and relaxation.
Sources
Timeline Of The Article
By Harsha Kiran
Harsha Kiran is the founder and innovator of Techjury.net. He started it as a personal passion project in 2019 to share expertise in internet marketing and experiences with gadgets and it soon turned into a full-scale tech blog with specialization in security, privacy, web dev, and cloud computing.