The Cost of “Shadow Work”

A study by Forrester Consulting Research, which was commissioned by Perk, has delved into the cost of the work that is sometimes called “administrivia” but is helpful to one extent or another in keeping things running in an organization. They call it “shadow work” – the work that seemingly must be done but that seems to produce little in the way of results. Their cover lists 26 tasks, including such things as chasing receipts, “chasing approvals,” “chasing rsvp’s” and “chasing the chasing”, ten regarding managing travel arrangements, and so forth. Individually, these do not seem to be terribly important. But what is important is the amount of time they consume. Their studies reveal that employees spend about 7 hours per week on “shadow work” – nearly a workday. Over a workforce of 10 employees, that is around 70 hours – nearly a workweek. Their estimate is that “shadow work” costs the United States approximately $564,000,000 per year across all employers. That is about 2½ time that of Germany, the next-closest economy rated.  

Closer to home, for that sample 10-person workforce working 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year (theoretically, of course), their 50 weeks would produce 20000 straight-time hours. Of that, according to this calculation, 3500 hours would be “lost” to shadow work – about 18 percent. 

Shadow work is reported to be a drag on employee morale and performance: 30% of employees surveyed said they agree that shadow work is a contributor to burnout, and 15% “strongly agree.” 

It appears that the subjects of the survey were mostly employees of larger companies because the survey found that the most aggravating shadow work tasks – which were also the least automated – were travel booking, expense claims, supplier invoices and team event planning. 

Nevertheless, it is something for managers to watch out for; optimal use of employee skills is good for the bottom line.