Office workers waste years doing nothing according to new survey

Britain’s office workers are wasting years – and millions of pounds in lost productivity – through doing nothing at all, recent figures have found as according to their own admission, many spend time when they should be working browsing the internet, chatting on Facebook and Twitter, or simply taking extended tea, cigarette or lunch breaks.

The net result of this lack of activity is the potential loss of millions or pounds for employers as their staff get away with doing – quite literally – nothing. And even when they are working, workers spend two hours every day dealing with email; and another thirty minutes “wasted” in meetings.

“It’s incredible, and the kind of thing this country could do without,” said Mark Hall, from Socked.co.uk, who commissioned the survey “What we need are a new league of gentlemen in the workplace, leading by example. We at Socked are all about saving time – You’re there to work, not slack off.”

The survey found these favourite workplace time-wasters:

  • Long lunch breaks
  • Tea and cigarette breaks
  • Personal internet use
  • Talking to friends
  • Personal business
  • Logging onto the computer, trying to remember passwords
  • “Looking” for pens
  • Day-dreaming about promotion?And the old stand-by: Looking out of the window

According to figures, two-thirds of office workers admit to using the internet for non-work purposes, with a fifth saying that they waste at least an hour every day this way. Other workers admitted to going shopping in work hours, and seeing to banking, personal and other business.

However, it’s not just workplace skiving that costs millions of pounds. Research found that over-long meetings, inappropriate work processes, dealing with disruptive colleagues, not to mention a deluge of email are just as good at wasting time. Another survey carried out by Epson revealed a massive £26bn wasted on meetings in the UK in one year alone.