The hidden cost: understanding the invisible labour of digital work

This project is supported by manifesto and DEN.

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Does this sound familiar? You're the person colleagues come to when something (anything) digital "looks wrong", even if it has nothing to do with your role. Making even the smallest change to a key system (like the website) requires knowing about fifteen different workarounds that aren't documented anywhere. You often have to spend hours on a report that should take minutes, because the data lives in three different systems that don't talk to each other. You fix things that aren't in your job description because if you don't, nobody will. And you suspect that most of your colleagues would struggle to describe what your role actually involves

This is hidden digital labour, and across the cultural sector it's consuming an enormous amount of time, energy, and capacity that nobody is properly accounting for.

I'm running a research project in 2026 to understand its scale and impact, building on Beyond the Promise, my 2025 study into digital project failure in the cultural sector, which found that digital work is consistently under-resourced and underestimated, and that the people best placed to make resourcing decisions rarely have a true picture of the effort required to make things happen.

Why this matters

Because it's invisible, this work doesn't get properly planned for, resourced, or recognised.

Organisations make decisions about digital capacity based on what's in job descriptions and project plans - not on what's actually keeping things running.

That gap is where projects stall, teams burn out, and digital initiatives repeatedly fall short of what was promised.

Better evidence won't fix this on its own, but it's a necessary starting point.

How you can help

I'm gathering evidence through three routes:

A short anonymous survey (takes around 10 minutes to complete) capturing experiences of digital work that sits outside formally defined roles or plans.

A two-week diary study following the day-to-day reality of a small number of digital professionals.

One-to-one interviews exploring the stories behind the data in more depth.

If your role touches digital work in any way (systems, data, content, audiences, platforms, infrastructure, or strategy) then your experience is relevant.

What happens next

Findings will be published later in 2026, with a focus on making them practical and usable. As with Beyond the Promise, the output will include a report alongside tools and resources designed to help leaders, practitioners, and funders make more realistic decisions about digital capacity and support.

If you'd like to support the work or ask questions, get in touch at [email protected].

This project is supported by manifesto and DEN.

More about the project partners

Big thanks to the two project partners who are supporting this work.

DEN is a Dutch knowledge centre driving digital transformation in the cultural sector, supporting museums, theatres, libraries, and heritage organisations through research, training, and practical tools.

Manifesto is a digital agency working with visitor attractions, cultural venues, charities and membership organisations. Clients include Kew Gardens, Royal Parks, National Museum NI, Royal Academy of Arts and ZSL. They combine design, data and technology to help organisations improve their digital products and ways of working.

To innovate and remain resilient, cultural organisation must understand the 'hidden' digital work that keeps services running.   At manifesto, we are proud to support this research because we are passionate about helping the cultural sector  move from "doing digital" to truly "being digital" and this research will help provide the baseline for what is needed to help the people and processes behind the screens thrive and respond to the shifting digital landscape.
Cherie Chambers - Director of Strategy and Innovation