Employees Really Do Waste Time at Work, Part One

According to the survey, a majority of employees regularly spend time surfing the Internet on websites unrelated to work. Because “time is money,” every hour wasted has a direct negative impact on the bottom line.

Specifically, the survey revealed 64 percent of employees visit non-work related websites every day at work. Of that group, 39 percent spend one hour or less per week, 29 percent spend 2 hours per week, 21 percent waste five hours per week, and only 3 percent said they waste 10 hours or more doing unrelated activities. (My experience as a CEO tells me these figures are probably underestimated.)

The survey also revealed which websites keep employees most off-task. Not surprisingly, socializing on Facebook occupied 41 percent, while 37 percent use LinkedIn, and 25 percent are shopping at Amazon. Other destinations include Yahoo and Google+ and to a lesser extent Twitter and Pinterest.

The younger, more tech-savvy worker demographic appeared to be the biggest group of recreational Web surfers. Of employees between the ages of 18 and 35, approximately 73 percent reported spending time inappropriately at work on a daily basis.

Respondents said the No. 1 reason for slacking at work was that they don’t feel challenged enough in their job. Other reasons include, (2) they work too many hours, (3) the company doesn’t give sufficient incentive to work harder, (4) they are unsatisfied with their career, and (5) they’re just bored.

These reasons in part also explain why 46 percent of workers look for a new job while at their current place of employment – LinkedIn is the website of choice for those trying to network.

There are many ways companies can combat the effect of wasted employee time within their organizations. For example, of the 3,200 respondents in the survey, 71 percent said short breaks throughout the day help them achieve higher levels of productivity.

As it relates to inappropriate web site browsing, companies can implement a web filtering tool such as our ContentProtect on company computers to block or track websites not related to work activities, and if you suspect excessive wasted time, the IT group can install an activity-monitoring software such SpectorSoft to follow all computer activity on a particular PC.

Realize, though, that technically savvy people know how to access their favorite websites through smartphones or proxy websites. In any case, it’s good business practice for companies to create, publish, and enforce policies on personal Internet use at any company interested in achieving higher levels of productivity. Establishing and enforcing policies should improve productivity but can also increase the security of company information, the security of company technical assets (computers), and will potentially reduce the liability associated with issues related to sexual harassment or employee job performance.