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Study: Office Workers Spend Less Than Half Of Working Hours On Main Job Duties

Employees at large companies reported spending 40 percent of their time on meetings, administrative tasks and "interruptions." (Nlpictures/Wikimedia Commons)
Employees at large companies reported spending 40 percent of their time on meetings, administrative tasks and "interruptions." (Nlpictures/Wikimedia Commons)

According to a new survey, U.S. employees at large companies report spending only about 45 percent of their time at work on primary job duties. Instead, workers reported spending their time on email, in meetings, doing administrative tasks or on “interruptions.”

Derek Thompson, senior editor for The Atlantic, spoke to Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson about the survey by AtTask, conducted by Harris Poll.

Guest

  • Derek Thompson, senior editor for the Atlantic. He tweets @DKThomp.
  • Read More

  • The Wasted Workday
  • Stop Wasting Everyone's Time
  • Are We Truly Overworked? An Investigation—in 6 Charts
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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