Top time-wasting activities:
Surfing internet (personal use)
Socializing with co-workers
Running errands off premises
Personal phone calls
Spacing out
Arriving late
Applying for other jobs
Source: Salary.com, America Online survey
Posted on 08/09/2006 12:34:14 PM PDT by Cagey
There's a scene in the 1999 cult movie "Office Space" when unmotivated employee Peter Gibbons admits he generally comes in late, spaces out for about an hour, takes lunch and then spaces out for another hour.
"I'd say in a given week I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual work," he tells a pair of consultants.
Well, Peter, you're not alone.
A new survey by Salary.com and America Online found the average U.S. worker fritters away 1.86 hours per 8-hour workday -- not including lunch and scheduled breaks.
That's actually an improvement from last year's inaugural Salary.com/AOL survey, which showed workers squandered 2.09 hours a day.
Bill Coleman, Salary.com's senior vice president of compensation, said the results could reflect a slightly more energized work force due to an improving economy. Or maybe fewer hard-core slackers were polled this year.
H.R. budgets an hour a day
This year's biggest time-killer was personal use of the Internet. Of the 2,700 people quizzed in the unscientific survey, 52 percent said they wasted more time online than any other way. (The survey, by the way, was conducted online, and some responded: "I waste my time filling out surveys like this.")
Other top time-wasters included: socializing with co-workers, running errands and spacing out. "Staring blankly at the computer screen remains to be quite a popular choice," the study concluded.
In addition to polling workers, Salary.com surveyed human resource managers, who said companies assume workers waste nearly an hour each day. The difference between the slacking that companies budget for and the true amount costs U.S. companies a combined $544 billion per year, according to the survey.
Socializing not all bad
In the Loop on Tuesday, office workers had mixed feelings about the survey's results. Some believed the 1.86 number was a bit high. Others said it was on the mark.
Many gave guilty laughs. Few gave full names.
"Sometimes you need to walk away," said Jason, 27, who is in the hospitality business and admits to wasting about 45 minutes a day. "We're not machines or robots. And sometimes what the Cubs are doing is a hell of a lot more important than what I'm doing."
The survey intentionally did not define "wasted time," figuring people know it when they see it -- or do it.
There are gray areas, though, such as building relationships with co-workers.
"Talking about what happened last night on 'American Idol,' although it's not likely to help your job directly, if that's some sort of relationship you build with co-workers, and it's important to have good relations, there is some value to that," Coleman said.
Top time-wasting activities:
Surfing internet (personal use)
Socializing with co-workers
Running errands off premises
Personal phone calls
Spacing out
Arriving late
Applying for other jobs
Source: Salary.com, America Online survey
Working four to six hours a day is the key to happiness, according to a new report. Sydney University academic Dr Caroline West says while work delivers self-esteem, income and social ties, more than four to six hours a day will bring anxiety, exhaustion and a poor quality of life. Dr West's research shows most people would rather work longer hours and have more money than have extra leisure and family time. She said people who don't have money and who don't value work as their number one priority often risked being ostracised, or dubbed as lazy. "It's difficult to be someone who places priority on leisure if you're surrounded by people who just care about money, or care about it more than other things," Dr West said.
"That sounds a bit inflated to me...."
What is Captain Lewis Nixon doing in that office?
I don't see the problem. It seems productivity is doing just fine. If you keep your hand on the back of someone's head and force their nose to the grindstone every day of the year, I'd suspect they will burn out rather quickly, and then you have training costs for your next wage slave.
Wow! I'm ahead of the average!........
The real trick is to bill while slacking, then to punitively bill if you're questioned about slacking....
I plead guilty to a couple. Oh okay, a few.
Some people I work with average 1.86 hours of WORK per day.
They left off FReeping!............
Some people I work with I believe are secretly working for our competitors.........
"I wouldn't exactly say I've been missing it, Bob."
I THINK SALARY.COM COPIED A LIST OF MY JOB DESCRIPTION.
Surfing internet (personal use)
Socializing with co-workers
Running errands off premises
Personal phone calls
Spacing out
Arriving late
Applying for other jobs
"We pretend to work. They pretend to pay us." -- old Soviet joke
Only 1.86 hours? What a bunch of slackers.
This is a rather interesting study, given the fact that the productivity of American workers is at a record high. If both things are true, then a case can be made that the freedom to goof off for a reasonable time each day in the office is conducive to higher profitability. ;-)
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