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Don't Let Your Boss Catch You Reading This

Posted by Zonk on from the you're-all-here-doing-research-not-a-problem dept.

Stony Stevenson writes "iTnews is running a piece on the culture of cyberslacking in the business arena. Studies worldwide suggest employees spend about a fifth of their work shifts engaging in personal activities. Most of that 'wasted time' is, of course, spent online. From the article: 'A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work. About 34 percent listed personal Internet use as the leading time-wasting activity in the workplace. Employees said they did so because they were bored, worked too many hours, were underpaid or were unchallenged at work. Firms all over the world are concerned about potentially harmful effects of surfing they deem to be inappropriate may have on their company's image.'"

9 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. Hold on there, junior... by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the first place, the Internet didn't create the ability to waste time at work. These "studies" never quantify the amount of time wasted at work today to that which was wasted before the Internet. Without comparing before vs. after, one cannot reach any absolute conclusions.

    In the second place, I work practically everywhere these days because of the Internet. I work at home, in the airport, in restaurants, in the car, etc. So counting all these other working locations, my productivity is significantly better than it was 20 years ago.

    In the third place, people aren't machines. People are more productive, and more creative, if they take a mental break now and then. And people make better business decisions if they stay current with social trends and events. It's not a time waster, it's a cost of doing business.

    Nuff said. Now quit bothering me, I really need to get back to work before my boss comes in.

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
    1. Re:Hold on there, junior... by Bin+Naden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I feel that the fact that most people waste 1/5 of their time on the internet may be a good indication that work weeks are 1/5th too long. In fact, if I could find a job where I would only work 4 days a week, I would probably be as if not more productive than now that I work 5 days a week. This is a case where corporations should revisit their policies instead of the other way around.

      --
      There should be a "-1:Groupthink"
    2. Re:Hold on there, junior... by Da+Fokka · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Be careful what you ask for - you might just end up with a 32 hour workweek getting 80% of the pay and end up browsing slashdot in your own time. Anyway, I think you're wrong. There is no intrinsic reason why 40 hours a week would be too much and 32 hours just enough. Smart employers (like mine, I'm typing this from work) don't mind some personal browsing and just care about the job getting done.

    3. Re:Hold on there, junior... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      >we are the good guys of the healthcare industry

      I understand the words individually, but I simply cannot sensibly parse the phrase as a whole...

  2. Solitaire by Viceroy+Potatohead · · Score: 5, Funny

    about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work The other four in ten were too stupefied to respond, having just played 900 consecutive games of solitaire.
  3. Re:1/5th of the time wasted? by svendsen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Amen. Right now I am 8 weeks into a 24 week contract. I do on avg. 1 hour of work a day. They hired me to do A,B,C,D. When I started I wasn't allowed to work on B,C, and D because the person who was paying for me said it wasn't their project and it was their money. Hmmm politics. Project A got delayed by 2 months so things I should have worked on when I started won't happen till late Sept.

    In the beginning I asked for more work every day and would either get a be patient or crap work (please proof read this, wtf). Then I only asked twice a week, same answer, same grunt work. Example please make sure 5 people review a manual and give feedback. Glad I got my masters for this

    Now I don't care. I don't ask. I surf 7 hours a day (Slashdot, news, stocks, LinkedIn, etc) and look for jobs during the day. My boss does comment the work I do is outstanding so when I have work I do it well.

    Do I feel bad? Not one bit. I turned down another gig for this one and then got screwed here. So the 7 hours a day they pay me to surf is the opportunity cost to me for having accepted this job.

    How come they never do a study showing how a boss or company wastes the employees time?

  4. Yes, I waste time at work sometimes. by seebs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And yet, somehow, I'm pretty productive.

    See, brains are complicated things, and sometimes what I really need is a half hour or so NOT looking straight at the problem, although I tend to be sort of absently thinking about it. And then suddenly I know what to do, and I go do it.

    --
    My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
  5. Low-Wage Jobs by Gman14msu · · Score: 5, Interesting
    While it's interesting to see the statistics for the workforce as a whole, I think it's interesting to point out that this is another major disadvantage for low wage workers. The types of jobs where you can slack off for 1/5th of the day aren't things like janitors, factory workers, or other lower level service personnel. If you factor that into the amount of work done per hour paid, the disparity between salaried office type work and low wage service work is even greater.

    When I first started at my office job during college, I was so used to being in the basic service industry that I didn't fit in right away. I was used to just taking a task, doing it, and immediately going back to the boss for the next thing. I didn't realize that the culture I was in was for slower progress on tasks and there wasn't a need to rush and be essentially managed by the boss every second of the day.

    Just some things to think about. A lot of people don't realize that for a lot of American workers, and 8 hour day really means 8 hours.

  6. *sigh* Thanks for the title. :P by arkham6 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So I'm eating lunch, glancing at slashdot.

    My boss walks up behind me and says "Don't let your boss catch you reading this? What is that Dave?"

    "Umm, its slashdot boss, and Its my lunch time."

    "You know Dave, internet usage isnt for personal activities...."

    *sigh*