Workers Claim Slacking Off Helps Efficiency
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Go on, admit it. We all slack off at work sometimes. Whether it is surfing the Internet or chattering with coworkers, we waste time at the office. But a new survey suggests that this may not be all bad.
Online recruitment site Scout asked 906 working men and women to answer how they spend their working hours and more than 80 percent admitted that they get sidetracked from time to time. And nearly 40 percent of the slackers claimed that doing so boosts their work efficiency.
"Employers aren't going to like this," said Cho Hyung-rae, Scout vice president, "but many employees spend working hours to take care of personal business."
He said the idea of wasting time should rightly upset bosses, but added that spacing out for a limited time can, in fact, help lower frustration and increase productivity.
"If it's going to take 30 minutes of downtime to help a worker free his mind and solve a complex problem, then it's better to let him do so instead of having him stress out for hours on end," said Cho, who highlighted the importance of awarding breaks appropriately.
The survey shows that the biggest group of people (39 percent) on average fritter away one to two hours a day, while 32 percent wasted less than one hour every day.
Then there were more severe slackers with the poll showing more than 16 percent spend two to three hours conducting personal business.
The top time waster turned out to be socializing with colleagues, according to the survey.
The second most popular response was reading sports and celebrity news online, followed by chatting online with friends, monitoring stock prices and updating personal Web sites.
Yet, Cho did say that "Thoughtlessly wasting time while on the job can cost employers an unimaginable amount of money every year."
He said it's important for bosses to map out a workable time management system, but also crucial for employees to stick to a certain level of work ethics.