4 billion working hours wasted on mistakes each year in UK

• 53 per cent of UK's workers are wasting up to 10 per cent of their time on mistakes
• Only 22 per cent of employees believe their organisations deliver what customers want every time
• Only 15 per cent of employees believe their organisations deliver on time, every time
• 38 per cent of employees say their organisations do not measure the cost of mistakes

Alarmingly in the period when cost is critical to survival for many organisations, research released today reveals that 40 per cent of UK organisations could be wasting valuable time, money and resources by not doing enough to measure and improve their business performance. This indicates that organisations have the ability to reduce waste and inefficiency, before cutting investment in the areas that traditionally suffer in a downturn, such as people, advertising and training.

2 in 5 employees said their organisation did not have (or they were unaware of) a system in place to measure and improve how efficiently they were performing at work.

The YouGov study, commissioned by the British Quality Foundation (BQF) and the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) also found that over half (53 per cent) of employees said they waste up to 10 per cent of their day correcting mistakes and re-doing work. This equates to up to 3.98 billion hours each year that UK workers are wasting on rectifying errors.

36 per cent of respondents said their company definitely did not carry out any analysis of their mistakes, with a further 19 per cent not aware if such a system was in place in their organisation.

The research also shows a worrying lack of accuracy in terms of product and service delivery amongst UK firms. Less than a quarter (22 per cent) of those surveyed said that their company delivered their products or services to the customer's expected standard every time, and only 15 per cent said these were delivered on time every time.

The study did reveal that smaller organisations are better at meeting customer expectations, with 30 per cent of employees in companies with 10-20 staff saying they delivered to the expected standard every time. This compares with only 18 per cent of employees in organisations with more than 1,000 staff.

The survey, which sampled over 2500 employees of all levels from a range of business sectors, also found:

• Only 39 per cent of respondents claimed performance improvement was very important to their organisation
• 81 per cent of managers claimed customer satisfaction was very important, compared to only 67 per cent of non management
• 52 per cent of organisations with 1000+ employees measured the amount of mistakes made, compared to only 30 per cent of organisations with less than 10 people
• Only 35 per cent of employees claimed that suppliers and partners consistently delivered what they needed
• 33 per cent of employees say their work is slowed down by mistakes and bottlenecks
• Companies with recognised quality systems in place perform significantly better in all areas - including error levels, customer service, internal communications, business improvement, risk management and waste reduction

Simon Feary, CEO of the CQI comments: “Many UK businesses are missing a trick - the first place to look for cost savings is in eliminating waste and increasing efficiency. Cutting investment in people, advertising and so on, must surely come afterwards. However with the speed of the downturn, I am concerned that those organisations that do not already have quality systems in place will be those least ready to react and therefore most at risk of going under.”

Joe Goasdoué, CEO of the BQF, agrees adding: “The current economic climate is putting pressure on every company to streamline costs and procedures. What this survey shows is that companies are failing to help themselves in these difficult times by not having systems in place to measure, tackle and repair the costs of errors in their business.

“Business improvement should be a priority whatever the economic climate, and UK businesses clearly need to do more to ensure that they are operating as efficiently as possible.”

30 November 2008

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For further information and the full break-down of figures, please contact:

Anna Hern
Ridgemount PR
Anna.Hern@RidgemountPR.co.uk
020 8943 9349
07970 482134

Notes:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,597 UK employees. Fieldwork was undertaken between 24th and 27th October 2008. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of the UK workforce.

About the CQI

The CQI is the only chartered professional body dedicated entirely to quality. With over 11,000 individual and company members worldwide it provides the support and learning to improve business.

The CQI's vision is to place quality at the heart of every organisation and exists to help makes business better.

It does this in a number of ways; by offering training and qualification, by promoting the benefits of quality generally throughout the UK and international marketplace and specifically to government and other authorities, by being an active and vocal advocate of quality, by developing and disseminating quality knowledge and practices and through the competent quality professionals who are its members.

The CQI believes that quality approaches are a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable business where survival and success requires innovation in product and service, combined with reduction in cost and a socially responsible approach.

About the BQF

The BQF is Europe's largest corporate membership organisation promoting performance improvement and excellence. Its 1,000 members range from leading international companies to small firms and public sector bodies. The BQF is an independent, not for profit organisation, established in 1993 by the Department of Trade and Industry and leading British and international companies.

The organisation provides a wide range of business improvement tools and services and runs seminars, workshops and training courses on business issues and challenges such as Business Continuity, Corporate Responsibility, Customer Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management Lean Thinking, Six Sigma and Sustainable Development.

The BQF advises on the EFQM Excellence Model, Europe's leading performance improvement tool. It helps managers to measure where their organisations are on the path to excellence and understands the gaps to find solutions that will close the gaps and improve its performance.

Every October, the BQF also holds the annual UK Excellence Awards the most rigorously assessed and judged award programme in the UK.