The Hidden Cost of "Temporary" Workarounds!
By Alison Gibbs | Published 27 January 2026
I’m the founder of Visionary Ally and a Strategic Business Support Specialist with over 25 years of experience helping Australian businesses — from high-growth startups to established organisations — bring clarity, structure, and momentum to their operations. I streamline workflows, strengthen systems, and remove the friction that slows teams down, enabling leaders to focus on the decisions that truly drive business growth.
There’s a familiar human tendency in every organisation: when a standard process fails, someone invents a “quick fix.” It gets the job done today, often with a quiet nod of approval from colleagues. But the very thing that smooths the immediate bump in the road can quietly create friction, risk and inefficiency that multiplies across teams and months.
Workarounds are not just expedient—they send a signal.
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Workarounds: What They Really Are
In organisational research, a workaround is a goal‑directed adaptation or alternative path used when a prescribed process is blocked, bypassing the obstacle without resolving it and leaving the original issue hidden behind “it still works” (Bartelheimer et al., 2025). While this definition comes from a medical context, where clinicians create workarounds around rigid information systems, the same applies in business, where employees circumvent cumbersome processes or technology to achieve objectives—achieving short-term results while masking persistent process flaws.
Ferneley and Sobreperez (2019) showed that these improvised behaviours can help individuals achieve immediate goals, but if left unexamined, they may become embedded into organisational routines, masking deeper process issues. More recent research confirms this pattern across organisational contexts, highlighting that while workarounds can maintain short-term productivity, they often conceal persistent workflow gaps and inefficiencies. (Bartelheimer et al., 2025).
Why "Temporary" Rarely Means Temporary
Think of a workaround like a detour sign on a familiar road: it eventually becomes part of the daily commute. Over time, these “detours” become habitual:
~ They mask systemic issues — the root cause never gets fixed.
~ They create inconsistencies in data, decisions and quality.
~ They increase operational risk (especially where safety or compliance is involved).
Studies in healthcare show that workarounds, especially in high‑risk environments like hospitals, aren’t just procedural shortcuts — they respond to real workflow blocks but can compromise safety or increase burnout over time. (Halbesleben, J. R. B. (2010)
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The Organisational Innovation Paradox
Innovation isn’t just about new products or flashy services — it’s just as much about improving the way work gets done. Across Australian businesses, teams are constantly experimenting with processes, systems, and workflows to stay competitive and responsive.
The challenge is that gaps between designed processes and real-world work often create the very conditions for workarounds. When teams have to improvise to get things done, it signals that processes aren’t fully supporting the work as it actually happens — and that’s where hidden costs, inefficiencies, and risk quietly accumulate.
Why Leaders Should Listen to Workarounds
Workarounds are not inherently “bad.” In fact, they frequently keep people productive when systems fail. But their persistence tells a deeper story:
~ They indicate gaps between prescribed processes and real work realities.
~ They signal under‑resourced or misaligned systems.
~ They reveal hidden productivity drains that statistics alone won’t surface.
A 2025 report for Australian HR professionals showed that ambiguity in work processes can lead to hours of wasted effort each week—evidence that hidden inefficiencies are a real productivity cost.
A Simple Framework for Leaders
Rather than dismiss workarounds, treat them as early warning signals and decode what they reveal about your systems.
1. Document them — actively.
Encourage teams to log workarounds as they occur.
2. Ask “Why?” five times.
Go beyond the immediate cause and uncover systemic gaps.
3. Fix the root‑cause, not the symptom.
Temporary fixes should prompt permanent improvements.
4. Measure costs over time.
The real cost of workarounds is not one task saved — it’s the cumulative extra effort,risk and rework over months or years.
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From Workaround to Innovation
Workarounds can be signals of unmet needs. Some research suggests that, with the right approach, organisations can harness these adaptations as innovation opportunities rather than nuisances. The challenge is to move from reactive patching to proactive design improvement.
Final Thoughts….
Workarounds are symptom and signpost. They signal that the way work is done doesn’t align with the way work must be done. Organisations that treat these “temporary” shortcuts as clues rather than conveniences will find themselves smoother, safer and more productive — not just today, but for the long haul.
~~Alison Gibbs
References
Bartelheimer, C., Löhr, B., Reineke, M., Aßbrock, A., & Beverungen, D. (2025). Workarounds as a cause of mismatches in business processes: Insights from a multiple case study. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 67, 339–356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-025-00943-5
Halbesleben, J. R. B. (2010). The role of exhaustion and workarounds in predicting occupational injuries: A cross‑lagged panel study of health care professionals. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017634
Miro. (2025). Momentum at Work Report 2025: Australians waste six hours a week on repetitive work. HR Daily Australia. Retrieved from https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/employee-engagement/australians-waste-six-hours-on-repetitive-work-report-finds/551385