In APQC's 2021 survey of 982 knowledge workers, respondents estimated they spent about 30 of 40 weekly hours on productive work, and 2.8 hours a week looking for or requesting information. For a small business the cost shows up when the one person who knows a process is away, and when growth means the same job is done three different ways. This brief covers what the survey says, what it does not, and which processes to write down first.
APQC, a benchmarking and knowledge management organization, surveyed 982 full-time knowledge workers in 2021. On their own estimates, the average respondent spent about 30 of 40 working hours on productive work. The drains they reported included 3.6 hours a week managing internal communication, 2.8 hours looking for or requesting needed information, and 2.2 hours in unnecessary or unproductive meetings. Answering repeated questions and recreating information that already exists were also on the list, without hour figures. (APQC, via Business Wire, November 2021)
These are self-estimates, the survey is from 2021, and it does not report small businesses separately. It also does not show that documentation alone gives those hours back. Read it as a picture of where time goes, not as a savings figure.
In a three-person business, an undocumented process is a memory problem: it stops when the person who knows it is out. As the team grows, each new person learns the job from whoever trains them, and small differences turn into different results for clients. Writing a process down before you hire for it is easier than reconciling several versions after.
One page per process is enough to start: the trigger, the steps, the tools, who owns it and what done looks like. The guide to your first SOP walks through it, and the SOP Starter System gives you the templates.
This brief summarizes published survey data and practical guidance. It is not legal or professional advice.
More research