Workplace Time Wasters (Ranked) & How to Reclaim Your Time

We could just declare “HUMANS!” as the top workplace time wasters and bring this here article to an abrupt close, but we’ve already tackled the drain that are time vampires. This time around, our focus shifts to workflow inefficiencies – so we're talking needless meetings, unbalanced collaborations, and the double-edged sword that's perfectionism. 

While some of the issues ranked below may stem from individual behaviors (we're looking at you, micromanagers), the emphasis here is on structural workplace distractions and how to start reclaiming your time. Join us, won’t you?

What are time wasters at work?

While humans in all their forms – be they colleagues, management, or family members (if you WFH) – are the undisputed time sinks, they aren’t the only source of daily distraction. A time waster can take many forms, but it can be summarized as anything that incrementally siphons productivity from your workday. 

Some may seem obvious, like venturing down an impromptu doom scroll on social media, while others are perhaps part of your work process and you’re not aware of just how counterproductive the practice is (*ahems* multitasking).

Why is avoiding workplace distractions so important?

How else are you going to reach peak productivity without identifying and reducing the top time stealers in your process?! Simply put, steering clear of distractions can give you the gift of time. You’ll have the space to sharpen your focus, enhance efficiency, and ultimately achieve your goals quickly. 

By recognizing both the environmental and personal obstacles that lead to lost time, you can take proactive steps to tackle these challenges before joyously skipping your way down your personal path to success!

Top 12 time wasters in the workplace

So, without further ado, let’s address our top 12 time-wasting activities in the workplace. We’ll outline each time thief with examples before giving you actionable strategies to mitigate each one. Our number 1 spot may come as a surprise. 

#12 Procrastination

While we’ve touched on this before, it’s worth remembering that procrastination is the fear of failure in action. To be clear, procrastination can take many forms, like redesigning a room on a whim in favor of fulfilling a deadline or busying yourself with more trivial tasks tenuously linked to your overall goal. The latter gives you the illusion that you’re doing the thing you need to do when really you’re just getting high off that feeling of temporary relief from completing incidental tasks. This form of procrastination is the worst because it’s harder to spot.

It doesn't have to be groundbreaking; take my daughter's “Motivational Monster” as an example. It's simply a jar sitting on her desk, festooned with a fierce face, containing mood-boosting declarations that you pick out at random. Sometimes the simplest ideas can have the biggest impact; don’t knock it till you try it!

#11 Unequal collaborations

In short; HUMANS. While helping colleagues in need can expedite certain parts of a project, repeated occurrences can accumulate, sucking your time overall. If you’re always carrying the load to turn things around, you’re going to burn out.

#10 Personal pursuits 

“I should respond to that WhatsApp”... “I need to make a follow-up appointment with XYZ”... “We have nothing in for dinner; I’ll do a quick online shop”... “Oh look, *insert applicable name here* is calling, a quick five-minute chat won’t hurt”... And, lo, five minutes turns into 35 and you get off the phone not only giddy but irretrievably distracted. To be clear, I’m not begrudging downtime during one’s workday, it just should be within reason.

#9 Interruptions in general

The impromptu shoulder tap from an inquisitive coworker, a notification ping, or a chaotic workspace literally driving you to distraction are all a source of time suck.

#8 Disastrous delegation

If there’s one thing that can unravel a team quickly, it’s poor delegation. It typically leads to a few members becoming overloaded and facing burnout, while others feel disengaged, underutilized, and underappreciated. In short, chaos ensues. Expect missed deadlines, muddied accountability, and – ultimately – squandered time.

#7 Micromanagement

There’s nothing more distracting for a team than having a line manager lingering over your shoulder for some reason. Not only is it distracting, it’s disconcerting. Being micromanaged stifles creativity and, over time, crushes team morale. When employees feel overly controlled, disengagement grows, productivity drops, and innovation tanks. It's a lose-lose situation, squandering time and resources for all involved.

#6: Social media

There is nothing quite as addictive or distracting as the lure of an illicit and protracted doomscroll – especially nowadays… Afterward, you feel preoccupied, despondent, and possibly dirty. On average, it takes about 25 minutes to get yourself refocused on work after being distracted.

#5 Manual admin tasks

Not only are manual tasks the very definition of tedium, they’re also super prone to human error. They eat up precious time, pulling focus away from strategic work that drives real progress. From repetitive data entry, universally despised manual time tracking to grappling with paperwork, these inefficiencies slow down teams while draining energy and productivity.

#4 Perfectionism

The pursuit of perfectionism is ultimately a productivity trap. Striving for flawless results often leads to over-analyzing and excessive tweaking, wasting time and slowing progress. Another unfortunate byproduct is stress, lower energy, and little room for innovation or adaptability.

#3 Context switching

This is the workplace myth that doing lots of different things in tandem with each other is somehow productive. In fact, this frequent switching of attention disrupts focus and hinders productivity as the brain takes more time to get up to speed to the new context. 

This "attention residue" can hamper your cognitive performance, resulting in more errors, and increased mental fatigue. In other words, multitasking is not the friend you thought it was. Over time, it can be that unfortunate combo of time sink and mental drain, and the very definition of inefficiency.

#2 Arbitrary meetings

Every business has them… the meeting mongers. Those who waft about actively seeking out regular confabs to fill their respective working days There is nothing more unproductive than a “catch up” meeting. That’s code for “We don't need to adhere to an agenda; let’s just go with the flow – and I can box off an hour of my time in the process.” 

Before you start investing in a slew of workplace merch stating “This meeting could’ve been an email” that you can bring along to your next arbitrary in-person "catch-up" – or to passive aggressively hoist aloft while quaffing a coffee on Zoom – be careful what you wish for...

#1 Email 

Who’d have thought it, eh?! Spending endless minutes of your day navigating your chaotic inbox is one of the biggest time wasters at work. Granted, emails are a great method of communication, particularly for remote teams and especially in favor of meetings that regularly spill over the hour mark. However, email isn’t without its own drawbacks.  

Overloaded inboxes are a constant drain, with perpetual threads that unnecessarily CC-ing everyone you've ever worked with just to keep everyone "in the loop." Then, there are the so-called "urgent" emails that, after a tense few minutes, reveal themselves to be far from critical – but they've already claimed your brain space and you'll need yet more time to coax your poor mind back to the matter at hand. Moreover, spam and promotional emails also hijack your focus, distracting you with relentless irrelevant clutter.

Management's role in combating inefficiencies

It won’t come as a surprise that management plays a key role in mitigating time waste in the workplace. By addressing inefficiencies directly, instead of hovering over someone’s shoulder waiting for something to happen, leaders can inspire their teams to work more effectively and achieve better results. Here are five tips for fostering a more productive time management environment. 

1. Define clear objectives: Set specific, measurable goals to keep everyone aligned and accountable.‍
2. Reduce needless meetings: Meeting creep is your enemy. Evaluate the need for meetings and, when held, ensure they follow a concise agenda with set time limits.‍
3. Advocate for a better work-life balance: Encourage flexibility and regular breaks throughout each working day. Far from detracting from your day, these will bolster your team's overall productivity.‍
4. Highlight efficiency: Be sure to recognize achievements in terms of time management and highlight effective practices to boost morale and further motivate your team. Don’t consider this an invitation to harp on about it relentlessly; that’s counterproductive and will likely cause your team to rebel. Instead, give them the tools necessary to keep improving and then back off. Speaking of which…‍
5. Equip your teams with the latest tools: Provide modern software to streamline workflows and enhance collaboration.

And when it comes to tools, we've got something that might meet your needs – what are the odds?!

How Memtime can help you identify workplace time wasters 

Some time wasters may seem incidental, however, they add up. Mitigating them – or, even better, eliminating them entirely – can free up HOURS of your week. Automating wherever and whenever feasible is key to reclaiming your time. 

Memtime can help you effortlessly implement certain time-saving strategies, like harnessing the power of accurate time entries and keeping track of the distractions.

Memtime boasts the following benefits: