Know What's Happening in Management

U.S. Companies Are Wasting Millions of Dollars Each Year Paying Middle Managers to Do Low-Value Work, New Research Shows

SafetyCulture’s fifth Feedback from the Field report finds U.S. frontline middle managers lose an average of 33 days per year to low‑value tasks such as endless meetings and duplicate data entry. The wasted time translates to roughly $6,400 per manager, or an estimated $59.9 billion in lost productivity across the country. Construction and manufacturing bear the heaviest burden, accounting for $16.7 billion and $17.3 billion respectively. The study also reveals that while 85% of managers propose improvements, only 54% see those ideas enacted, highlighting a gap between insight and action.