Britons wasting 8 weeks a year over poor office filing

If only you knew how to file stuff in the office

21 April 2006 6:15 GMT / By Stuart Miles

A new survey released suggests that UK bosses could double your holiday if only they knew how to file stuff in the office.

According to the survey carried out by Filemaker, a provider of database software for businesses, the average UK worker wastes 8 weeks a year searching for mislaid documents on company systems.

Put this into a weekly context and we supposedly waste 15% of our working week which no doubt could be better spent at the water cooler gossipping.

“It’s incredible to think each worker is throwing away over 40 full working days a year just looking for documents and reformatting information. What’s more amazing is that British industry is unwittingly creating these delays through poor management of its own data and materials”, said Tony Speakman, Regional Manager for FileMaker, Northern Europe.

FileMaker commissioned the research project between November 2005 and January 2006, examining data-management and productivity in the work place.

Over 3000 people were surveyed with findings illustrating Northern Ireland and the West Midlands as the biggest wasters, spending an average of 6.5 hours a week searching for mislaid business-critical data.

Full tags

Software, PC software, Office software, FileMaker, Surveys