20+ Little-Known Time Management Statistics For 2023

Time management statistics show that a shocking amount of time is wasted on an organization. Senior managers spend as much as 23 hours a week in meetings and the whopping 16 days per year are lost through searching for paper documents.

Procrastination is also a problem in most workplaces. The average UK employee spends over two hours a day doing anything except work.

Also, the majority of students feel they lack the necessary time management and organizational skills to achieve the best grades possible.

And that’s not all:

Intriguing Time Management Statistics

Here are some exciting time management stats that deserve our attention:

• Microbusiness owners spent a quarter of their workweek on accounting admin tasks.
• Employees spend 44 minutes on social media every day.
• In 2020, staff in the logging and mining industry spent 44 hours per week working.
• 60% of workers felt that Coronavirus affected their work-life balance between March and June 2020. 
• Despite time tracking apps, hints, and tips being available, only 17% of people track their time.
• 46% of stress reported amongst employees in the US is caused by an overwhelming workload
• 87% of students could achieve better grades if they possessed better organization and time management skills.
• The search term “Employee Monitoring'' had an interest value of 100 by December 2020. 
• As of 2020, the US had an average workweek of 41.5 hours for full-time employees. 

As time management stats prove, we spend most of our time at work. Yet it’s amazing just how much time we waste throughout a typical working day. This directly impacts our leisure time.

General Time Management Statistics

Aside from sleeping, which we spend 26 years of our lives doing, we spend most of our time at work. 13 years to be exact, according to recent time management work statistics. If we wish to be more successful in our jobs, we need to set goals and exercise some discipline.

1. 22% of cohorts that set goals saw an improvement in performance in academics in 2020. 

(Source: ScienceDirect)

2021 Statistics about time management show that 88% of people who don't set goals fail to see a better academic outcome. On the flip side, two out of every 10 people that set goals noticed an improvement.

2. 44 hours/week is the number of time loggers and miners attended their jobs in 2020.

(Source: Statista)

Statistics on time management show that those in the industry worked the most in 2020, with 8.8 hours per day.  Following closely were employees in utilities with 42.9 hours per week. Leisure and hospitality staff worked the least, with 25.2 hours weekly.

3. By December 2020, “Employee Monitoring” had a 100 value interest in the last month of 2020.

(Source: CNBC)

Statistics about time management show that many people were interested in ways to monitor staff. We can attribute this interest to working remotely due to Corona.

4. Only 15% of employers offer the 40hrs/week schedule as of 2020.

(Source: EBN)

Whooping 75% of employers in the US offer 40+ hours per week schedules, which translates to eight hours per week. The question is how many employees are getting a healthy work-life balance. Another area of concern is how burnout affected the efficiency and productivity of staff working more than the recommended hours. 

Companies such as New Zealand's Perpetual Guardian cut their workdays to just four per week. 12 months into the program, the organization was already seeing positive results performance-wise. 

Time Management Statistics at Work

Despite the average working week being 40 hours or more, it is surprising just how much time is wasted in the workplace. According to the latest statistics on time management at work, some of the biggest time-wasting activities include searching for documents, pointless meetings, and procrastination.

5. Companies, on average, spend as much as 16 days a year looking for paper documents.

(Source: DocuSign)

Despite new technologies such as digitization and document management software being readily available, a lot of companies ‘do things the old fashioned way’. Thus, wasting a lot of time, according to recent facts and statistics about time management.

6. At least 23 hours per week senior managers spent in meetings.

(Source: DocuSign)

In fact, between 1960 and 1980, the amount of time executives spent in meetings doubled, as confirmed by time management studies and statistics. Unnecessary meetings waste a lot of time. So before accepting another pointless one, check you have an agenda written, and that the meeting is absolutely essential.

7. The average UK employee spends 2 hours 11 minutes procrastinating every day.

(Source: HumanResources)

The most popular ways to procrastinate at work included:

• Texting, taking up 28 minutes per day,
• Daydreaming, taking up 20 minutes,
• Gossiping, taking up 18 minutes.

Going on Facebook accounted for 16 minutes of wasted time during, according to up-to-date statistics for time management.

8. 11%  of organizations admit that accounting tasks gave them sleepless nights in 2020.

(Source: Accountancy Age)

Time management statistics for 2021 show that one in 10 businesses struggled with accounting tasks in 2020. 

What does that have to do with time management?

If a task is causing you too much stress, then the chances are that you’re going to spend more time doing it. That will eat into your downtime and affect your productivity when it comes to other duties.

Time Management Education Statistics

Based on college student time management statistics, It’s clear to see why education can be considered an inefficient sector. The majority of students reveal they don’t have the necessary organization and time management skills to achieve the best grades. Moreover, teachers have limited time in the classroom, while having to deal with other distractions like uninterested pupils.

9. Time management statistics show that 87% of students could achieve better grades if they had better time management skills.

(Source: RELIABLEPLANT)

Most students admitted that they still use handwritten notes on a calendar to manage their time. Furthermore, 50% of students said they do not make use of one single system to arrange their lecture notes, contacts, research, and assignments.

Talk about shocking time management statistics for college students! Wasn’t this the age of technology?

10. Twenty hours a week are enough to study.

(Source: Ottawa University)

Students often struggle with planning their time. A lot of times, they find themselves rushing to study for exams last minute.

If you’re in school, here’s the best schedule for you:

According to student time management statistics, students should set aside 20 hours per week for learning. That includes the 15 hours you spend in class and 5 hours for personal study time. 

11. Around 60% of the working day enables teachers to teach.

(Source: Scholastic)

With things like breaks, the time between lessons and other activities, teachers spend less time teaching in the classroom than you’d expect. Of course, even more strain is put on teaching, when students fail to listen or are disengaged.

Statistics On The Benefits of Time Management

Happy employees are productive employees! And a productive workplace reaps financial benefits. There are lots of ways that employees can make their staff happier, according to time management skills statistics. From engaging staff to offer flexible working, here’s how it all comes together:

12. 2 hours and 11 minutes is the amount of time a UK full-time staff spent procrastinating in 2020.

(Source: Human Resources)

Can you believe it?!

According to statistics on poor time management, employees in the United Kingdom spent about 2 hours procrastinating daily. 

Most people put off work to gossip, daydream, or message others. Surprisingly, men won in all the categories apart from gossiping.

The habit cost UK businesses £2 billion by the end of that year. 

13. 52% of North American employers expect their workers to telecommute in Q1 of 2021. 

(Source: Willis Tower Watson)

Time management statistics show that more than half of North American companies foresee their staff working from home in early 2021. The pandemic has forced most businesses to adapt to flexible working, and most have taken it in stride.

14. 37% of businesses in North America did not have a flexible working policy in place in 2020.

(Source: Willis Tower Watson)

More than one-third of organizations did not have any formal arrangement for remote working as of 2020. That’s worrying, bearing in mind that businesses lose money every day when their operations are not running. 

There’s some good news:

14 of the enterprises without work-from-home policies created and adopted them last year. That’s a step in the right direction! Hopefully, more companies will follow suit. 

Statistics on Poor Time Management

Business owners waste up to a third of their week through low-value activities. Yet many also skip important meals and stop attending a health club after 30 days as indicated by important time management statistics.

15. Owners of micro-businesses wasted about 15 hours on financial admin tasks in 2020.

(Source: Accountancy Age)

According to statistics for time management,  entrepreneurs used 19% of their productive time on tasks that accountants/bookkeepers could do for them.

Sole traders had it even rougher, with 31% of their week going to duties in the same area. 

Since these companies contribute a significant amount of money towards GDP, perhaps it’s time for governments to step in. One way out would be to subsidize the services so that they’re more affordable. 

It would also be great if they spread awareness on the benefits of hiring accountants, using accounting technologies, or outsourcing. 

16. On average, staff spent more than 44 minutes on social media every day in 2020. 

(Source: Finances Online)

Time management stats for 2021 shows that employees spend almost an hour on social media daily. Well, that's about 220 minutes from Monday to Friday, or about 3 hours weekly.

17. Between March and June 2020, nearly 3/4s of employees couldn’t strike a work-life balance.

(Source: Effectory)

The virus forced many to work from home. For many, this was a whole new concept.

According to time management statistics, 60% of survey participants had a hard time balancing work and home life during the period. 

Statistics About Time Management and its Effects

If you want to be happier and more productive at work, time management stats suggest that you should get plenty of sleep, set realistic deadlines, and plan your day properly.

Does it really help, though?

Well, let’s see:

18. In 2020, remote workers scored 75 in the Workforce Happiness Index.

(Source: CNBC)

Time management and happiness statistics show that people working from home have a Workforce Happiness Index (WHI) of 75. That is just 25 shy of 100.

57% of employees working remotely said they had high job satisfaction. Only 50% of their counterparts who work from offices felt the same. 

19. Those who sleep 7-8 hours each night are happier, more productive, and produce better results.

(Source: Lifehack)

Time management and sleep statistics show that getting a full eight hours of sleep a night does wonder for your working life. Getting more sleep also helps improve your mood.

Don’t believe us?

Tchaikovsky, Thomas Mann, and Beethoven all benefited from healthy and full sleep each night and were all incredibly successful composers!

20. The United States had an average workweek of 41 and a half hours in 2020.

(Source: USA Today)

In 2020, 24/7 Wall Street surveyed 37 OECD countries and found that not all countries follow the 40-hour per week rule.

According to time management and stress statistics, Denmark staff worked the least amount of hours per week (37.2) on average. The country was the most fulfilling place to work, as per respondent feedback. On the other hand, Colombia had the highest amount of work hours per week with 49.8 hours.

The average hours for US workers was 41.5 hours per week. 11% of the survey respondents worked more than 40 hours per week. 

21. 2/3s of employees experienced burnout symptoms in 2020.

(Source: Forbes)

According to time management statistics for 2021, 66% of employees experienced extreme fatigue at some point in their careers. That’s a worrying figure considering its adverse effects on performance and health. 

Wrap Up

In the workplace, the happiness of employees is vital and affects their work, according to the latest time management statistics. Ultimately, happy staff are more productive, don’t procrastinate and earn the company more money. In fact, happy workplaces tend to be 31% more productive which can boost sales by as much as 37%.

Take some notes, managers!

Time management apps are always a good idea if you don’t know how else to handle the situation.

So, what about you? Are you a procrastinator in dire need of time management advice or are you Superman?