Marketers Time Management: What's happening to it, how they cope, and how to get time back

Marketers Out of Time?What’s happening to marketers’ time, how they’re coping, and how they can get it back

IntroductionEarlier Workfront surveys have found that marketers almost never feel like they have enough time to get through their burgeoning workloads. Our new State of Marketing Work Report confirms that marketers, on average, have less time than their colleagues to get stuff done. But why? Read on for 7 findings that shed light on this mystery…

Finding #1: Marketers really do have less time for their primary job duties than non-marketers.

We asked marketers and non-marketers what percentage of their work week was taken up by their primary job duties.Non-marketers spend 46% of their week on primary job dutiesBut marketers have only 36% of their week for primary job duties

But why is this happening?

Finding #2: Marketers spend more time in email, meetings, and administrative tasks.

We asked marketers and non-marketers what percentage of their week as taken up by other work activities.

Marketers spend 8% more time in email and meetings than non-marketers

So how do marketers cope with this lack of time for real work?

Finding #3: Marketers log in before and after hours.

We asked marketers how often they log in to work or work email before or after standard business hours, either in the office or remotely.89% confess to logging in outside of standard hours56% do it every day

Finding #4: Marketers log in on weekends.

We also asked marketers how often they log in to work or work email on weekends.85% log in on weekends52% do this every weekend

Finding #5: Marketers take shorter lunch breaks.

50% of marketers take lunch breaks of 30 minutes or less

And as if that weren’t enough…

Finding #6: Marketers delay bathroom breaks to get more time to work.

We asked marketers: “How many times in the last week have you delayed going to the restroom to meet a deadline?”60% confess to “holding it” to get work done30% do this 4 or more times per week

So why all these extra hours?

Finding #7: Marketers work overtime to catch up and get ahead of their work.

We asked marketers why they work outside standard business hours.52% “To get ahead of my work”37% “Too much work to do”32% “It is expected at my company” 17% “To look more dedicated than my colleagues”

ConclusionEmail, meetings, and administrative tasks are absorbing so much of marketers’ time that they must resort to overtime and other tactics to keep up with their primary job duties. Given the dangers of reporting routinely to overtime, marketing managers would do well to find solutions that shrink the amount of time spent in email, meetings, and other administrative tasks and give marketers back more time for the work they were hired to do.

Click here to read the full 2015 State of Marketing Work Report.