- UK employees spend up to a fifth of their week navigating poorly formatted documents
- Accessibility and structure proven to boost efficiency and reduce rework
- Organisations urged to treat document quality as a productivity issue, not just a compliance one
Despite organisations investing more heavily in collaboration tools and cloud platforms to improve workplace efficiencies, sadly it seems that many employees are still wasting significant amounts of time due to navigating poorly formatted digital documents. According to a McKinsey study, employees spend almost 20% of their working day searching for information in the workplace, and another 28%) of their workweek reading and answering emails, much of it navigating poorly structured messages.
Jeff Mills, CEO at GrackleDocs, comments: “Badly structured reports and PDFs are not simply a minor irritation, they actually slow down decisions, lead to errors, and increase frustration amongst the workforce. In hybrid settings especially, clarity and accessibility are and should be considered productivity enablers, not just optional extras.”
What the Research Tells Us: Delays, Bottlenecks and Lost Time
Badly formatted documents are more than just an annoyance, they cost UK workers significant time every week. According to a US study, accessibility audits in public sector and government settings show that converting non-tagged PDFs into fully accessible formats can actually take two to five times longer than working with documents that have been correctly structured from the get-go. Put simply, prepping a 30-page image-based report as a tagged, accessible PDF can require 1-3 additional hours for a skilled specialist when compared with a well-formatted source file.
Frustratingly, the impact is even more pronounced for visually impaired users, who report that attempting to navigate untagged PDFs can take up to four times longer than structured, accessible documents.
Previous research on process automation in public services has shown that saving just one minute per document across a large agency could add up to staggering 1,200 years of work saved.
Jeff comments: “Collectively, these findings highlight that ‘bad documents’ are more than a minor annoyance for employees, they quietly cost time and reduce productivity, especially within a hybrid and knowledge-driven setting.”
Why Accessibility Equals Efficiency – Not Just Compliance
Accessible documents offer real gains beyond legal safety:
- Common document errors can quietly cost employees a significant amount of valuable work hours. For example, image-only PDFs that cannot be searched or read by screen readers force manual page scanning or re-keying.
- Whilst missing headings and inconsistent templates can make navigation tricky for some, and dense emails and graphics without alt text can mean that key information is buried or misinterpreted by readers, often requiring extra follow-up.
- These issues naturally multiply when documents are shared, versioned, or circulated across teams.
By contrast, accessible documents offer clear benefits that go way beyond legal compliance:
- Proper headings, bookmarks, and tags allow users to navigate more quickly.
- While summaries and consistent formatting improve readability for everyone, not just those with disabilities.
- Including alt text for charts and images ensures critical data is not lost, and clear structure reduces the risk of misinterpretation or errors.
- Combined, these measures can help to reduce rework, improve efficiencies, and ensure documents work harder for the organisation.
Jeff goes on to say, “Whilst they may seem small, these gains can translate into significant time savings. For example, if a team of 50 people each saves just 5 minutes each day thanks to working with better documents, that equates to 4,000 minutes – or 66 work hours – saved every single week across the organisation.”
Legislative and Sector Context
Positively though, the imperative for accessible documents is strengthening:
- Under the Equality Act 2010, entities must make “reasonable adjustments” to avoid discrimination; with courts acknowledging digital accessibility as part of this duty of care.
- The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 requires public bodies to ensure documents published online are accessible.
- On 28th June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) entered into force. It mandated accessibility standards for digital goods and services. For those companies trading with EU markets, this means compliance with ICT standards such as EN 301 549.
- And within industry circles, accessibility is increasingly a differentiator. Organisations are beginning to use inclusive documentation as part of ESG, diversity and inclusion, and reputational strategies.
Jeff concludes: “With these legal and reputational changes coming into play, investing in well-structured, accessible documents is naturally becoming even more integral.
“Aside from the legal aspects, poorly formatted documents are silent productivity drains, whereas, by contrast, accessible documents can mean hours saved weekly, fewer errors, a smoother collaboration process, and a lower legal risk.
“Above all else, accessible documentation equals efficient documentation. Small changes made now will free up people to focus on work that truly matters to your business. For organisations committed to hybrid working, inclusion, and performance, document quality really should be a boardroom priority, not simply an afterthought.”
To find out more about how GrackleDocs can help to make your digital content more accessible to everyone, visit https://www.grackledocs.com/en/.
