Inefficient Knowledge Sharing Costs Millions

The average U.S. business will lose approximately $47 million in productivity each year due to inefficient knowledge-sharing practices. That’s according to the newly released Panopto Workplace Knowledge and Productivity report, which revealed the average worker wastes 5.3 hours every week either waiting for information from their colleagues or working to re-create existing institutional knowledge. This leads to delayed projects, missed deadlines, blown opportunities, frustrated employees, and an overall negative impact on the bottom line. "Every employee in every company contributes to institutional knowledge," said Eric Burns, co-founder and CEO of Panopto. "However, employee expertise is fleeting when it's shared only through conversation. To remain competitive, businesses must provide the tools to preserve institutional knowledge and instill a culture of teaching among employees." The study revealed that 42 percent of institutional knowledge is unique to the individual and that this knowledge was acquired specifically through performing an individual role and not shared by any co-workers. When the employee leaves their job or otherwise becomes unavailable, 42 percent of that job needs to be re-learned by someone else.