Workers waste a third of their day

24/09/2008

UK employees waste a third of their working day on ‘non-work related tasks’, new research has found.

The research, by recruitment site HireScores.com, found workers waste around two hours and 20 minutes a day on activities which include making tea, tidying their desks, and chatting with colleagues.

Almost a third said they spend more than three hours a day ‘pretending’ to be busy, while 96% of workers admitted to doing unnecessary tasks to put of doing work at some point during the day.

More than 40% of respondents said they would not start a new task which came in less than 20 minutes before the end of the day, while almost half said they leave mundane tasks until the last minute.

Lisa Howlett, managing director of HireScores.com, said employees work better in a relaxed atmosphere.

“To discover that people believe that they personally waste so many hours per year comes as a complete surprise,” she added,

“The number of people ‘pretending’ to work is very concerning but those employees who complete their daily tasks and still manage to enjoy their time at work are sure to be the happiest.”