We’re Only Productive Half the Day — The Rest Is Just “Busywork” ☕💻

If you feel like half your workday disappears into emails, meetings, and “quick check-ins” that are anything but quick… congratulations, you’re not alone.

A new report found that the average office worker spends 51% of their day doing “busywork.” You know — all those thrilling tasks like reading and replying to emails, updating spreadsheets, searching for files that should be easy to find, and wrestling with technology that was probably installed during the Harper era.

The Grind That Grinds You Down

It’s not just dull — it’s draining.
85% of workers say repetitive tasks trigger stress at least four times a week, and are one of the biggest causes of burnout. (So yes, it’s not just you having a mini existential crisis over your inbox every Thursday.)

And then there are the meetings. Oh, the meetings. Endless, soul-sucking, calendar-blocking meetings that could’ve been an email… ironically adding to the emails.

RELATED: Office Workers Will Be Most Productive At This Time, And Slump At This Time!

Can A.I. Please Save Us Now? 🤖

Artificial intelligence was supposed to make work easier — not just creepily autocomplete our grocery lists. So, can it please handle some of this nonsense?

Here’s what workers say would actually help:

• 25% want better data management (because “final_final2.xlsx” isn’t cutting it)
• 19% want email help (translation: make Outlook less evil)
• 18% want automated form-filling (expense reports, we’re looking at you)
• 17% want better file organization (because apparently, “Documents > Stuff > More Stuff” isn’t a system)

If A.I. can handle that, we might actually have time to do our jobs.

Until robots start running our meetings, we’ll keep pretending to look busy while waiting for the next Zoom to start.

At this point, it’s less “work-life balance” and more “busywork burnout.”