Employers should be more concerned about staff skiving off for a cup of tea
than surfing the Internet when it comes to wasting time at work.
Only one in 10 employees surf the net for personal use during work time and
only slightly more admit to sending unnecessary personal e-mails while at work,
according to research.
The study, by BT Small & Medium Enterprises, reveals almost 60 per cent
of British workers believe they waste less than two hours a week at work.
Not all British workers are so efficient – 7 per cent of firms surveyed
admit they waste eight or more work hours a week.
Of those wasting time, old-fashioned skiving is the mainstay with more than
half of workers taking regular breaks to make a cup of tea and 47 per cent
admitting to gossiping when they know they should be working.
More than a quarter of slackers admit to reading the newspaper when they
should be working, 20 per cent delay getting down to some hard graft by desk
tidying, and 17 per cent say they spend time looking out of the window instead
of working.
Mike Langston, managing director at BT SME, said the findings show employers
should not be worried about new technology being used to skive.
"The worry of many employers that easy Internet access at work would
lead to time wasted surfing the net or sending hundreds of personal e-mails is
clearly unfounded," he said.
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