Report: U.S. manufacturing loses $17.4 billion a year in wasted time among managers

The recent SafetyCulture/YouGov release found more than five hours per week are burned by managers on low-value or unnecessary tasks.

Sarah Mattalian

Nov. 18, 2025

2 min read

What you'll learn:

U.S. manufacturing is losing $17.4 billion each year in manager time wasted on low-value tasks.
Across industries such as construction, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, transport and logistics, an estimated $90 billion is wasted each year in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland and Australia.
Managers lose an estimated 5.16 hours every week on tasks such as pointless meetings, fixing other people’s mistakes and on back-and-forth communication.

691c709583cdf678eecda333 Dreamstime M 390973232

U.S. manufacturing is losing $17.4 billion each year in manager time that is wasted on low-value tasks and failed company improvement programs, according to a report that surveyed 1,019 respondents in America.

In manufacturing, the new report found, the problem of billions wasted mainly involves middle managers who burn time on routine tasks rather than on meaningful opportunities and on failure of continuous improvement programs poorly designed by leaders who don't understand the daily challenges middle managers face.

Across industries such as construction, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, transport and logistics, a combined $90 billion is wasted each year in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland and Australia, according to the 2025 Feedback from the Field report from SafetyCulture, based on research by the YouGov that surveyed 3,028 middle managers.

Instead of focusing on high-impact priorities, managers lose an estimated 5.16 hours every week on tasks such as pointless meetings, fixing other people’s mistakes and back-and-forth communication.

Disconnect between top leaders and middle managers

Overall, the study highlighted a two-way gap: managers’ improvement ideas struggle to gain traction, and top-down leadership strategies fail to solve daily challenges.

Closing that gap can be solved with more innovative systems, tools and visibility to develop ideas into lasting improvement strategies, allowing managers to focus on valuable tasks to drive companies forward, the report says.

Additional findings from the report include that 95% of manufacturing managers have improvement ideas that would save their organizations time, money or resources, but only 54% have had those ideas implemented.

Of these managers, 35% said their ideas were dismissed, which resulted in 51% of middle managers claiming that certain processes remain inefficient.

Among middle managers impacted by their organization's continuous improvement programs, 38% said the top frustration is that they create additional workload without clear benefits.

About the Author

Sarah Mattalian

Staff Writer

Sarah Mattalian is a Chicago-based journalist writing for Smart Industry and Automation World, two brands of Endeavor Business Media, covering industry trends and manufacturing technology. In 2025, she graduated with a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, specializing in health, environment and science reporting. She does freelance work as well, covering public health and the environment in Chicagoland and in the Midwest. Her work has appeared in Inside Climate News, Inside Washington Publishers, NBC4 in Washington, D.C., The Durango Herald and North Jersey Daily News. She has a translation certificate in Spanish.