Thursday, 07 March 2019

Re-flow research conducted by YouGov shows UK workers sacrifice personal reading to keep on top of paperwork.

While schools across the UK and Ireland are celebrating World Book Day on the 7th March, adults in employment are having their enjoyment of reading stifled by paperwork burdens at work. If UK companies were more considerate about what information they are obliging their employees to read, workers would feel more inclined to read things for their own enjoyment.

A national poll of UK workers has found that:
• The average UK worker spend almost a full working week reading paperwork each year. *
• 21% of UK workers spend more than 7 hours a month reading paperwork.
• 17% of UK workers feel that they are often reading irrelevant information in paperwork.
• 12% of UK workers don’t feel like reading things they enjoy because they already have to read so much at work.

Form Fatigue

Across the regions of the UK, there is a consistent percentage of people who say they don’t read things like books, magazines or poetry specifically because of the amount they already have to read at work. This regional rundown shows where form fatigue is taking its toll.

“I often don't feel like reading things for personal enjoyment (e.g. books, magazines, poetry etc.) because of how much I already have to read at work.”

• North East 15%
• North West 14%
• South West 14%
• Yorkshire and the Humber 13%
• West Midlands 13%
• East of England 13%
• Northern Ireland 13%
• London 12%
• East Midlands 11%
• Scotland 11%
• South East 10%
• Wales 6%

Reading for personal enjoyment is also more likely to be overlooked by younger workers due to the amount they are having to read at work, but as we get older, we are less inclined to feel that we have to sacrifice reading things we enjoy.

With 16% of 18-34 year old workers getting out of the habit of reading for enjoyment due to the reading requirements placed on them in the workplace, we are in danger of setting a lifelong habit of ignoring reading for fun.

Often not feeling like reading for fun due to work reading- by age group:
• 18-24 16%
• 25-34 16%
• 35-44 13%
• 45-54 11%
• 55+ 7%

MD of Re-flow, Michael Saunders said “In a week where children across the nation are celebrating their favorite stories and characters in books, adults in the workplace are spending significant amounts of time trudging through paperwork and getting reading fatigue that stops them wanting to read at home.”

“With 17% of UK workers feeling obliged to read information they consider irrelevant, it’s time companies reflect on what they deem essential reading.”

Re-flow is a workflow information management system that brings paper processes online and creates dynamic forms that changes the information being displayed based on the readers current circumstances. This eliminates irrelevant information being shown and saves hours of wasted time.

*Annual figures calculated from YouGov’s monthly figures. A working week is defined as 37.5 hours.


Notes:

For more information, please contact Ollie Christophers, Re-flow Communications Department
ollie.christophers@re-flow.co.uk
01392 574012

About Re-flow

With Re-flow field management software, you can centrally control your jobs on location and achieve outstanding workflow management.
Our desktop dashboard gives you powerful job command functionality, and in the field, our ultra-stable app won’t let you down.
As your workers complete tasks and information, data comes back to the dashboard, instantly highlighting what’s been accomplished.

www.re-flow.co.uk
01392 574002


YouGov Research

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 4172 adults of which 2307 were workers. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th - 7th February 2019. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).