Fact · Dictation for work and study
20.4hours per week
In a 2016 survey of 547 business people who write at least two hours a week for work, excluding email, respondents averaged 20.4 hours of writing per week.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“analyzing the experiences and attitudes of 547 business people who write at least two hours per week for work, excluding email. ... They average 25.5 hours reading and 20.4 hours writing per week.”
The State of Business Writing: The challenge of writing for a read-on-screen world, Josh Bernoff, WOBS LLC, 2016, Introduction and Summary.
Open the original- What it measures
- The WOBS Writing Survey asked business people who write at least two hours a week for work, excluding email. Most respondents were managers, executives, analysts and other professionals rather than professional writers.
- What it does not show
- Self-selected heavy writers, and email is excluded. It does not describe the typical office worker, who writes far less than this group.