A new year is often thought about as a time for fresh starts and renewed focus. But for many employees across Europe, often the reality of returning to work feels anything but motivating.
Instead of a clean slate, they can be met with the same tiring problems. Crowded inboxes, duplicated processes and manual admin tasks dominate the working day, year after year. In fact, European employees are losing an average of 15 hours every week to routine administrative tasks outside of their core role – the equivalent of almost two full working days.
More than a quarter say they spend most of their working day on admin and less than half believe they spend most of their time on value-driving work. Administrative burden is clearly no longer just an operational inefficiency, it has become a people problem, and one leaders cannot afford to ignore if they want their business’ to stay productive, compliant and competitive.
The cost of admin overload
Employee engagement across Europe is under immense pressure. Only 13% of European workers report feeling engaged at work and admin overload is fuelling that disengagement, which continues to build through everyday frustrations. Re-entering the same data across multiple systems, manually updating reports or chasing approvals might seem minor in isolation, but together, they drain time and energy.
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Over time, they send a message to employees that their skills, judgement and creativity are less important than just ticking boxes. Employees are clear on what reduced admin could unlock, including greater enjoyment of work through more creative tasks (31%) and improvements in their ability to make stronger strategic decisions (27%).
The issue is also compounded by a growing perception gap between leaders and employees. While decision makers generally acknowledge that admin is a problem, a quarter of employees believe leaders underestimate how much time is lost to it. Even more concerning is that only 18% feel their employer genuinely cares about reducing their admin burden.
The hidden risks behind routine tasks
Beyond engagement, admin overload also exposes organisations to operational and compliance risks. Manual, document-heavy processes increase the likelihood of errors, outdated information and inconsistent handling of data. In the last five years alone, 62% of decision makers say their organisation has experienced or narrowly avoided a data or compliance breach due to mismanaged or missing documents.
These risks rarely make headlines until something goes wrong, but they build quietly in the background of everyday admin. In highly regulated environments, the consequences of these mistakes can include financial penalties and reputational damage.
Leaders are aware but don’t act
Part of the challenge is that many leaders believe progress is already being made. More than 60% of decision makers say new tools and systems have simplified workflows in their organisation, and 44% see automation as the technology that would have the biggest impact on growth and productivity.
But the lived experience of employees tells a different story. Time lost to admin remains stubbornly high, with only half (51%) of office workers saying they spend most of their time on value-driven work. Too often, organisations invest in technology without properly thinking about the processes around it, or they automate in silos instead of end-to-end. The result is more systems, but not less admin.
Making 2026 the turning point
If organisations are serious about improving engagement, productivity and resilience, 2026 has to be the year they finally tackle admin at its root.
That starts with an honest view of where time is being lost, and which tasks are adding the least value. From there, leaders need to simplify and standardise processes before automating them, especially around document management, approvals and information flows.
Done well, automation removes friction. When repetitive, manual tasks are taken off employees’ plates, it frees up time for creative, strategic work which drives growth and job satisfaction. Equally, consistent, automated processes can strengthen governance, improve data accuracy and reduce compliance risk.
The admin burden keeps resurfacing because not enough has changed. But the benefits of getting it right are clear, including higher engagement, stronger productivity, better risk management and a workforce that feels valued for what it actually contributes.
This year, it’s time to treat admin overload as the fixable barrier it is and remove it for good.
Jason leads Ricoh Europe’s process automation business across EMEA. He oversees regional strategy and commercial performance and works closely with customers and partners to deliver automation solutions that streamline workflows, reduce manual effort and improve how organisations manage information and processes.
