We’ve all heard team members or colleagues question the value of a particular piece of work or method. But a new nationwide survey of manufacturing staff reveals just how often they feel they are wasting their time.
Technological innovation, a more skilled workforce, and automation were all supposed to make British industry much more efficient and competitive. However, a Censuswide poll of 1,000 workers – in sectors ranging from textiles and consumer goods to automotive, steel, and utilities – found that 91% spend large amounts of their day carrying out work that they think could have been avoided.
Forty-five per cent say that 10–25% of what they do is of low or zero value, while 14% say that figure is more than a quarter, and one in 25 reckon it’s more than half.
Almost all (96%) of the employees in the survey, which was commissioned by the manufacturing data platform Mithryl, say they spend time doing tasks they know could be done more effectively. For almost three in ten (29%), that accounts for more than a quarter of their week.
Industries such as electronics and pharmaceuticals are particularly badly affected, with 63% and 77% of staff, respectively, feeling they waste a tenth or more of their working time. Censuswide spoke to staff in most manufacturing roles below senior management level, including machine operators, assembly technicians, maintenance engineers, and administrators. Twelve per cent of manufacturing engineers and 18% of design engineers feel that more than a quarter of their efforts are not really necessary.
Larger companies may like to think they have more highly organised, complex manufacturing systems than their smaller competitors. But while a little more than half (55%) of staff in organisations with between 10 and 49 employees spend 10% or more of their day on avoidable tasks, for firms with 250+ staff, that figure is 62%.
Many senior leaders will probably be concerned that the survey findings suggest probable overall inefficiency at their organisation. Indeed, 21% of poll respondents say largely pointless tasks undermine team mood and cohesiveness. But the survey shows how dissatisfied individuals are in their jobs, too.
Almost half (48%) of workers say that having to perform low- or no-value tasks is demotivating, and 24% say it actually makes them want to find a new role. Chemical-sector companies should perhaps be particularly worried – the figure there was 39%.
Manufacturing staff give several reasons why they feel they aren’t as effective at work as they could be.
Forty-four per cent cite the difficulty of finding information on how to carry out a task or procedure – 82% among defence workers and 62% in pharmaceuticals. Just over half (54%) think there aren’t enough knowledgeable colleagues around to help them – 71% in the life science sector. A similar number (56%) are worried that their work will become harder when colleagues retire, taking their insight and experience with them. Steel workers (71%) and design engineers (74%) are most concerned.
Most of us have experienced a meeting that could have been an email, and 47% of workers feel a lot of time is wasted in unproductive discussions – 62% in logistics operations and 91% in defence. People certainly don’t seem to be communicating well in meetings, as 44% of poll respondents think their company has too many data and expertise silos.
Workers see automation, centralised information, and AI as good solutions to improve performance and reduce low-value work. More than six in ten (62%) think they’d be able to complete key tasks better if reporting and manual data work were handled more by automated technology. Around eight in ten of quality control and testing staff, and people in logistics operations, feel their organisation would be more efficient with a platform containing data, analysis, and task information across all departments.
Just over half of manufacturing staff say that AI monitoring and insights into activities would make their company more effective and could have identified past problems sooner.
But what might worry senior leaders most is that they are seen as stumbling blocks to greater efficiency. Fifty-six per cent of poll respondents say bosses don’t take advantage of new technology for day-to-day work as quickly as other companies or industries. Thirty-eight per cent say senior managers rarely or never listen to or implement workers’ suggestions for improving processes.
“These results should give every company leader pause for thought,” says Roger Zouein, Mithryl co-founder & CEO. “The UK cannot have a thriving, efficient manufacturing sector if most employees feel they are spending hours a week doing unproductive tasks, and a quarter of them want to quit their job. Workers are saying very clearly that bosses need to urgently reassess procedures and roles, and use AI and other new technology to share data, analysis, and knowledge, quickly and simply across companies.”
Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine | The Home of Manufacturing Industry News
