Social media and other time wasters stealing nearly one hour of your office day
Social media, internet surfing, online shopping, computer games, small talk with colleagues, daydreaming, snacking outside the agreed meal breaks and so on ...
The temptations are many and so big that office workers waste up to 4.26 hours a week - 51 minutes daily - on non-work related activities.
That is the conclusion of a recent survey conducted by the English media agency Reboot Digital PR Agency, based on responses from 5,265 office workers.
In comparison, office employees working from home only waste half an hour a day (2.5 hours a week), while hybrid workers waste 32 minutes daily (2.71 hours per week) on unproductive pursuits.
Worst time wasters
Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and more - social media are the worst time wasters when it comes to distracting employees in their physical office environment from handling the tasks the employer pays them to do.
According to the English study, social media account for as much as 23% of the disturbances, internet surfing, including online shopping, another 20%, while daydreaming steals 10% of the office worker's daily and weekly working time.
  According to English research, office workers waste up to 4.26 hours a week or 51 minutes in their physical workplace daily on non-work related activities. Fotos: iStock |
Office employees working from home reportedly waste "only" 12.04% of their time checking their social media - roughly half of what their in-office colleagues do.
Home workers spend 11.94% of wasted time on personal care - showering, hygiene, make-up and dressing - while using a minor part of their working time on cleaning the home, walking the dog, cooking, gardening etc.
Checking news
A corresponding study by the US career portal Zippia.com among 1,000 office workers reveals that they spend an average of just 4 hours and 12 minutes of their eight-hour office day on active and efficient work.
On average, each respondent spends a full hour and 5 minutes of each paid workday checking and reading news online.
 Social media are the worst time wasters regarding distracting office workers from handling the tasks their employer pays them to do. |
78% of the office workers interviewed estimate they do not need eight hours to handle their daily job schedule. The respondents also regard 71% of the time spent in meetings as completely and utterly unproductive.
In addition to news and other internet surfing and working time spent on social media, the study's 1,000 office workers indicate SMS activity as the third biggest time waster of their working day, closely followed by frequent toilet visits.
Most productive at home
"45% of office workers are just as productive when they work from home as in their physical office. Another 18% report being more efficient when they work in the home office.
The latter group states that fewer meetings, distractions and the freedom to manage their own working time make them get more done at home," marketing manager at Zippia, Kathy Morris, states.
 45% of office workers are just as productive when they work from home as in their physical office. 18% are more efficient when performing in the home office. |
"The remaining 37% of the office workers interviewed flatly admit that their efficiency and productivity tend to drop when they work from home.
This fact is due, they explain, typically to distractions such as childcare, too many virtual meetings and technology that either doesn't work or isn't present at home," Kathy Morris refers.
She adds that these justifications were results of the pandemic but that the companies and their employees as well today have become much better at tackling and remedying these problems when working from home. ●
Read more:
Rebootonline.com: How much time do people waste when wfh vs the office?
Fintechmagazine.com: Remote workers waste two hours less per week
Zippia.com: Here is how many hours workers are actually productive
Forbes.com: 3 ways employers can optimize hybrid work
