The pie charts show how office workers spent their time on different activities in 1980 and 2000.
Overall, time spent on the grapevine increased over the period, while the percentages for meetings, paper documents, and phone calls declined. Time spent on emails was introduced, whereas the figures for face-to-face communication and other activities were retained.
Focusing first on downward trends, the percentages for meetings and paper documents were 16% and 20% in 1980 before dipping to 6% and 10% in 2000, respectively. However, in 1980, office workers spent a significant 32% of their time on phone calls, although it fell to 12% in 2000. Emails were introduced to office workers in 2000, and they made up 8% of their day.
Of all office activities, only the percentage of grapevine experienced an upward trend. It was a mere 2% in 1980 and peaked at 26% in 2000, considerably exceeding time spent on other activities.
The figure for time spent on face-to-face communication and other tasks remained unchanged, at 14% and 15%, respectively.