Employees are wasting thousands of hours a month on admin - so is AI the answer?

• Emails are the biggest time drain when it comes to employee admin
• Only 41% of US/UK workers use AI regularly, report claims
• The real ROI should be closing the deficit

New Fyxer data has claimed UK and US organizations are wasting $954 billion per year on avoidance administrative tasks, which equates to 5.6 hours per week per employee which could be eliminated by using AI tools.

The report blamed emails for wasting the most time, with the average worker receiving 29 emails that require a response every single day.

As a result, more than half (57%) are working beyond their contracted hours, with high earners (76 minutes per day) and Millennials (72 minutes per day) most susceptible to working overtime.

We waste hours every week doing busywork

The data claims half of the surveyed US and UK workers have seen workload increases over the past year, and nearly one-third (29%) of that increase is admin.

"We’ve quietly normalised an enormous amount of avoidable administrative work as ‘the cost of doing business’, but it’s nothing short of a crisis," CEO Richard Hollingsworth wrote.

However, they're not currently using the best tools to save time. Only 41% use AI regularly, with two-thirds worried existing tools are insufficient or ineffective. Multiple disparities also emerge, with higher earners and males most likely to use AI.

Among adopters, 75% agree AI has improved their work, with 90% agreeing in the science, technology and research sectors.

With this in mind, Fyxer frames AI as "core productivity infrastructure" – companies need to advance beyond experimentation to implementing tools that actually solve common worker pain points. It's also on those businesses to close gaps in utilization.

And while many organizations are seeking revenue- and productivity-based returns, Fyxer suggests instead focusing on measuring closed deficits: "That’s admin removed, time saved, and hours returned to meaningful work."

"The only way forward is to recognise how heavy the burden has become, and to lift the weight from workers," Hollingsworth concluded.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.