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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Wasting Time At Work

Good news!

We're apparently wasting less time at work!

A mid-year 2007 Salary.com survey found about 6 in every 10 workers admit to wasting time at work with the average employee wasting 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour working day.

While the amount of time wasted at work seems high, the percentages have actually improved by 19% from Salary.com’s first survey conducted back in 2005, when workers reported wasting 2.09 hours of their working day! That initial survey revealed that workers actually worked a total of three days a week, wasting the other two. Even worse, a study by Microsoft in 2005 revealed that American workers, on average, spent 45 hours a week at work, but described 16 of those hours as “unproductive.”

What are we wasting time on? Topping the list of time-wasting activities:

  • Personal Internet use – 34%
  • Socializing with co-workers – 20.3%
  • Conducting personal business - 17%

The reasons why people wasted time?

  • Boredom and not having enough to do was the main reason - 18%
  • Having too long hours - 13.9%
  • Lack of challenging work – 11.1%

BOTTOMLINE: Clearly, companies that have a challenged and engaged workforce can expect less time wasting, and more productivity in return. What organizations need is a systematic program to address activity alignment, not just to reduce wasted time, but to focus in real-time on the every-day activities that most align with company goals. That's what Six Disciplines is all about.

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