Busy UK founders waste 84,000 annually on admin tasks, new data shows

"A comprehensive Harvard Business School study tracking 60,000 hours of CEO time has revealed a troubling pattern: executives spend up to 55% of their unscheduled time managing email alone. For UK founders earning £150,000 annually, this administrative burden translates to approximately £84,000 in lost productivity each year. The research, conducted by professors Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria, followed 27 CEOs over 13-week periods, recording their activities in 15-minute intervals around the clock. The findings challenge the prevailing assumption that busy founders are necessarily productive founders."

"When founders spend 20 hours weekly on administrative tasks - calendar management, email sorting, travel booking, and invoice processing - they're not just completing necessary work. They're displacing high-value strategic activities that only they can perform. The mathematics become stark under scrutiny. A founder earning £150,000 annually costs their business approximately £72 per hour. Administrative work that could be handled by support staff at £25-35 per hour creates a £40-50 per hour opportunity cost."

Sixty thousand hours of CEO time were tracked across 27 CEOs during 13-week periods, with activities recorded in 15-minute intervals. Executives spend up to 55% of unscheduled time managing email. For UK founders earning £150,000, that administrative burden can translate to about £84,000 in lost productivity annually. Founders spending roughly 20 hours weekly on administrative tasks displace high-value strategic work. A founder earning £150,000 costs the business about £72 per hour while support staff cost £25–35, creating a £40–50 per hour opportunity cost. CEOs average 62.5-hour workweeks, with 60–72% of time in meetings, many ineffective.

Read at Business Matters