The study, commissioned by Adobe and carried out online by YouGov, polled 1,151 office workers, working in public and private sector organisations with upwards of 50 employees.

It found that 30 percent of respondents claim to spend more than five hours a month, or 7.1 days a year, on 'unnecessary administration work'. Based on 10 million UK office workers with an average office worker salary of £32,465, as quoted by the Office of National Statistics, Adobe said that this equates to £8.8 billion of costs to UK businesses.

The research highlights how outdated processes, unnecessary duplication of effort, internal politics and information gathered 'for the sake of it', are all contributing to inefficiencies in the workplace.

Adobe said that there was a clear link between data collection and management methods and the levels of unnecessary administration. A total 72 percent of respondents cited email as the primary administration mechanism within their company, while just 17 percent used electronic forms and 11 percent continued to use paper.

However, David Gingell, Adobe's senior director of marketing, EMEA, said: "Businesses are over-relying on email as an administration tool. There are more efficient ways of collating data. [For example] electronic forms can simplify the collection and automate sharing of data in the back office, and for many organisations, electronic forms is a fairly straightforward business case in terms of return on investment."