Zapier report: Canadians trail Americans when it comes to automation

Canadian knowledge workers only spend 18 percent of their time on their core job functions and spend a shocking amount of time on data entry. And yet they still trail American companies when it comes to automation use.

That's according to a Zapier survey of 1,000 Canadians who work at or own small and medium-sized businesses. We asked these knowledge workers how they spend their workday and then compared their answers to American workers from an earlier survey we conducted with the same questions. 

Americans automate more than Canadians—but maybe out of necessity

36 percent of Americans say they are strongly encouraged to use automation tools at work, compared to only 28 percent of Canadians.

• The COVID-19 pandemic led to more workers being introduced to automation workflow tools. Of the workers that use automation tools, the majority of Canadians (78 percent) started using them in the last two years.

• But Canadians still trail Americans in automation usage—possibly because they feel like they don't need automation as much. They reported 38% less manual work, 36% fewer distractions from messaging apps, 23% fewer unnecessary meetings, and 20% less burnout than American workers.

How do Canadian knowledge workers spend their time? 

Still, Canadian workers aren't using their time in the most efficient way possible.

• 18% of Canadians spend less than one hour a day on core job functions.

• 71% of Canadians spend up to three hours a day on data entry.

• 86% of Canadians spend up to five hours a day checking messenger apps. 

What motivates Canadian workers? Compensation and recognition are key.

• Getting a raise was the number one productivity motivator for Canadians (43 percent). 

• Recognition from their boss (41 percent), feeling proud of their work (36 percent), and client or customer satisfaction (35 percent) rounded out the top four motivators.