Internet Leading Cause Of Slacking At Work
Online compensation company Salary.com recently conducted its third annual online survey on slacking at work. 2,057 people participated in the survey which found that 60 percent of those surveyed admitted to wasting time at work with the average employee wasting 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour working day.
The leading time wasting activity was, gasp, surfing the inter-tubes. 34 percent of the respondents said that personal internet use was their leading cause for slacking. 20.3 percent said socializing with co-workers wasted most of their time while 17 percent said that conducting "personal business" was the leading cause for lack-o-work.
The leading time wasting activity was, gasp, surfing the inter-tubes. 34 percent of the respondents said that personal internet use was their leading cause for slacking. 20.3 percent said socializing with co-workers wasted most of their time while 17 percent said that conducting "personal business" was the leading cause for lack-o-work.
"The reasons why people wasted time were varied with nearly 18 percent of respondents questioned by e-mail in June and July said boredom and not having enough to do was the main reason.
The second most popular reason for wasting time was having too long hours (13.9 percent), being underpaid (11.8 percent), and a lack of challenging work (11.1 percent).
"While a certain amount of wasted time is built into company salary structures, our research indicates that companies with a challenged and engaged workforce can expect more productivity in return," said Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com."
While the amount of work wasted seems to be quite high, it has actually come down since Salary.com conducted its first survey in 2005. Since then, the amount of time wasted had dropped by 19 percent, from an average of 2.09 hours to 1.7 hours.
