British businesses are spending £104bn a year on basic administrative tasks as a result of red tape, a new survey has revealed.
The research found that the average employee spends more than seven working weeks a year on administration such as: updating records, inputting data, filing expenses, bookkeeping, timesheets, invoicing and billing.
Nationally, the survey of 1,117 employees discovered that workers take five hours and 45 minutes a week to complete most administrative tasks.
Charlie Cowan, chief executive, Keboko, a cloud service provider who commissioned the survey, said: "With Britain starting to emerge from the global recession, you'd expect most companies to be hard at work trying to generate new business. However, many workers struggle to find time to do this, as non-core tasks, such as inputting data and updating reports, still take up too much time. It's costing UK businesses a fortune, with the money essentially going down the drain.”
According to the report, many individuals spend a large portion of their working week on non-billable tasks that aren't a core part of their job, and are unlikely to generate additional income. Furthermore, it was found that data entry is the most time consuming administrative task, with 18% of workers spending more than six hours a week on it.
Cowan added: “A lot of the time workers are being held back by a lack of tools to help them get admin tasks done quickly and efficiently.
"It's clear to see that a new generation of tailored and more flexible business applications is desperately needed by Britain's businesses.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2010