LONDON (Thursday 20th October): New data based on 10,000 global workers has revealed that enterprises could gain 33 working days per year by tackling inefficiencies and app overload. 

As businesses tackle rising inflation and an uncertain economic outlook, Asana's Anatomy of Work Special Report: How to Spot—and Overcome—the Most Crucial Enterprise Challenges outlines the urgency for enterprise organisations to improve processes and enable their employees to do their best work. 

For instance, workers at enterprises are using many tools, with the average employee using nine apps per day, compared to six for those at a small business. These tools don't necessarily work together, creating siloed work, duplicated processes and excessive app switching. In fact, 17% of people at enterprise companies say that fewer apps would improve their focus, compared to 13% at small companies.

The report reveals that:

• 23% of enterprise employees report that overtooling is causing them to be less efficient, 20% to have a reduced attention span and 19% to miss messages.
• Those who work at enterprise companies are more likely to say that app switching is causing them to work longer hours (19% versus 12% at small businesses) 
• When enterprise employees work late they work longer hours as well, averaging almost 2 hours compared to 1. Working longer hours impacts both the individual but also the company, as it can cause employee attrition and a loss of productivity
• Workers are experiencing notification anxiety across all levels, it grows with job seniority. 42% of the C-suite, 41% of managers and 36% of junior employees feel overwhelmed by notifications
• Hybrid working has increased the amount of meetings for everyone, especially enterprise employees. Enterprise employees spend 4.3 hours a week on unnecessary calls compared to 2.6 hours for those at small businesses
• Those working at enterprise companies (27%) are also more likely to say that meetings cause them to miss actions or important updates than those who work at small companies (18%). 

With businesses under increasing pressure, it's integral that workers are set up for success - and it's difficult for employees to do their best work if they feel pulled away from the task at hand. By consolidating the number of tools in use, organisations can save individuals time, enable them to move more quickly and have greater visibility into the work happening around them. 

Whether due to meeting bloat or unnecessary tools, there is huge value for businesses to tackle inefficiencies and improve processes. Employees at medium-sized companies report they could save 297 hours a year, enterprise-employees 264 and those at small businesses 192 per year. Improved processes can be an amplifier for everything from individual productivity to organisational revenue, which is paramount as businesses face economic headwinds. 

About Asana

Asana helps teams orchestrate their work, from small projects to strategic initiatives. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Asana has more than 119,000 paying customers and millions of free organisations across 190 countries. Global customers such as Amazon, Affirm, Japan Airlines, and Sky rely on Asana to manage everything from company objectives to digital transformation to product launches and marketing campaigns. For more information, visit www.asana.com.

Research Methodology

In September 2021 quantitative research was conducted by GWI on behalf of Asana, to understand how people spend time at work. Asana and Global Web Index co-designed the questionnaire and surveyed the behaviours and attitudes of 10,624 knowledge workers across Australia, France, Germany; Japan; Singapore; the U.K., and the U.S, including 2,009 workers in the UK.