Copy, paste, quit? Mundane tasks push workers to the brink

American workers say they’re drowning in busywork — and it’s draining productivity, fueling stress, and even pushing some to quit.

That’s according to a poll of 2,000 white collar and knowledge workers and 1,000 IT decision makers. Results showed these employees are losing an estimated half of their day (51% total work hours estimated) on tedious, low-value tasks like copying and pasting, managing emails and data entry.

In fact, one in three respondents has considered quitting a job because of outdated or frustrating tech, and a similar number (33%) of workers believe that their current work technology is contributing to feelings of stress.

Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of HP , the survey also found that 85% of workers said repetitive tasks are a top contributor to burnout.