AtTask Study Shows Miscommunication and Distractions Overshadow Work Productivity

Results show clear need for better planning, collaboration, and visibility

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Oct 22, 2014, 09:00 ET

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Oct. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- There is a great deal of indecision among today's enterprise workers, according to a recent survey commissioned by AtTask, the leader in Enterprise Work Management and conducted online by Harris Poll. The first annual State of Enterprise Work Report showed that while enterprise workers express optimism about their work and work relationships, many also report strong frustrations and shortcomings in processes, communication, and time.

The first annual State of Enterprise Work Report conducted by AtTask, the leader in Enterprise Work Management, and Harris Poll, shows miscommunication and distractions overshadow work productivity

In fact, enterprise workers stated that only 45% of their work hours actually go to their primary job duties. The rest of their time is spent on email, day-to-day tasks, and meetings. Excessive email was highlighted as a leading factor to stymied productivity by 43% of workers.

"If we were watching a sitcom we could all laugh at the day-to-day pain the enterprise worker goes through," said Joe Staples CMO of AtTask. "However, this is real life. The misalignment of priorities is not only costly, but also frustrating, and results in lost productivity, missed deadlines, failed projects and overwhelmed employees. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Work management solutions, like AtTask, provide a single tool to manage the complete lifecycle of work and create true visibility into projects so that deadlines are met and workloads are better managed."

According to respondents, some of the most noteworthy causes of office workers' frustration were:

Communicating up -- Roughly eight out of 10 enterprise workers felt that internal communication within their team (84%) and communication between their and other teams (78%) was effective. However, 55% stated that communicating the value of their work to company leadership was difficult. Perhaps as a result, conflicting priorities (29%) and lack of communication or miscommunication (22%) are cited most as the most common sources of conflict with other departments, groups, or teams.
Lack of communication and alignment within the company -- Nearly 4 out of 10 enterprise workers (39%) say lost productivity is among the most common consequences of conflict with other teams.
Lack of clarity over the ownership of work -- 63% of enterprise workers say they often feel like there are "too many cooks in the kitchen"; and 64% say there is often confusion at their company over who is doing what.
Excessive distractions -- Office workers most often point to wasteful meetings (59%), excessive emails (43%), lack of "standard" processes for workflow (36%), excessive oversight (35%), poor work prioritization methods within the company (35%), unexpected phone calls (27%), and a lack of collaboration with their team (32%) as getting in the way of their work.

Yet, in spite of the challenges enterprise workers face, the news isn't all bad. Throughout the U.S., 70% of enterprise workers feel empowered at work and 83% believe at least one person at work "has their back."

AtTask solves work management challenges by managing the full lifecycle of work, from initial request, prioritization and planning through coordination, delivery and measurement into a single tool. By providing a single system of truth, teams are able to collaborate in the context of work, and gain complete visibility into the work that is being done. This eliminates the need for unnecessary status meetings and gives teams time back to be more productive.

To view the full report,www.attask.com/stateofwork

The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of AtTask from June 3-5, 2014 among 2,028 U.S. adults ages 18 and older of whom 268 were employed, work on a computer and collaborate with other people on projects at companies with 50 or more employees ("office workers"). Out of those, 150 respondents worked at companies of 1,000 employees or more—what we have, for the purposes of this survey, termed enterprises. The data provided in this report represents the responses provided by the 150 enterprise-level survey-takers. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For a complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Shelbi Gomez at [email protected]

Additional Resources:

Download the full State of Enterprise Work Report
See the State of Enterprise Work Report infographic

About AtTask

AtTask is a cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solution that helps marketing, IT, and other enterprise teams conquer the chaos of excessive email, redundant status meetings, and disconnected tools. Unlike other tools, AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud is a centralized, easy-to-adopt solution for managing and collaborating on all types of work through the entire work lifecycle, which improves team productivity and executive visibility. AtTask is trusted by thousands of global enterprises, like Cars.com, Cisco Systems, Covario, National Geographic, Schneider Electric and Trek. To learn more, visit www.AtTask.com or follow us on Twitter @AtTask.

Contact: Shelbi Gomez
[email protected]
801-477-981300

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SOURCE AtTask