Americans Waste More Than 2 Hours a Day at Work, Costing Companies $759 Billion a Year, According to Salary.com and America Online Survey.DULLES, Va. & NEEDHAM, Mass. -- Personal Internet Use Ranked As Top Time-Wasting Activity; Insurance Industry Leads In Time-Wasted; Missouri is #1 State for Time-Wasters For many American workers today, time's a wastin' - literally. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a Web survey by America Online See AOL. and Salary.com, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per day, not counting lunch. That's far more time than employers expect. Over the course of a year (and even after accounting for time employers expect to be wasted), that adds up to $759 billion on salaries for which companies receive no apparent benefit. The research, which was conducted through the AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Find a Job site on AOL.com(R), the AOL(R) service and Salary.com's Salary Wizard Instructional help in an application or system development environment that guides the user through a series of multiple choice questions to accomplish a task. For the most part, wizards are more effective than the help menus found in most applications, which often border on the atrocious. , involved more than 10,044 respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. (employees) who indicated that the number one way they fritter away fritter away Verb to waste: he did not fritter away his energy on trivialities [obsolete fitter to break into small pieces] Verb 1. time at work is personal Internet use (e.g., email, IM, online polls, interactive games, message boards, chat rooms, etc.). Personal Internet use was cited by 44.7% of respondents as their primary time-wasting activity at work. Socializing with co-workers was the second most popular form of wasting time at work (23.4% of respondents). Conducting personal business, "spacing out," running errands, and making personal phone calls were other popular time-wasting activities in the workplace. But are workers really expected to work non-stop eight hours a day? According to a follow-up survey of corporate human resource managers, employers actually expect the average employee to waste about an hour per day, in addition to the worker's lunch hour. "A certain amount of slacking off is already built into the salary structure," says Bill Coleman William Johnson Coleman (born August 4, 1904 in Paris, Kentucky; died August 24, 1981 in Toulouse) was a jazz trumpeter from the swing era. He had his musical debut in 1927. , senior vice president at Salary.com. "Our survey results show that workers on average are wasting a little more than twice what their employers expect. That's a startling star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. figure. Although in some cases this extra wasted time might be considered 'creative waste' - time that may well have a positive impact on the company's culture, work environment, and even business results. Personal Internet use and casual office conversations often turn into new business ideas or suggestions for gaining operating efficiencies." "It's interesting to note that the Internet was cited as the leading time-wasting activity. It goes to show how integrated it has become to the daily functions of our personal and professional lives," said Samara Samara, river, Russia Samara (səmä`rə), river, c.360 mi (580 km) long, rising in the foothills of the S Urals, European Russia. It flows generally northwest, and joins the Volga River at Samara. Jaffe, director of careers/AOL Find a Job, America Online. "Today, there are so many useful tools and Websites on the Internet that have enabled people to become more efficient with accomplishing multiple tasks in a shorter amount of time." The AOL and Salary.com survey results offer a glimpse into how employees waste time, why they do it, where they live, and where they work: Top Time-Wasting Activities Activities % of Time-Wasters 1. Surfing Internet (personal use) 44.7% 2. Socializing with co-workers 23.4% 3. Conducting personal business 06.8% 4. Spacing out 03.9% 5. Running errands off-premises 03.1% 6. Making personal phone calls 02.3% 7. Applying for other jobs 01.3% 8. Planning personal events 01.0% 9. Arriving late / Leaving early 01.0% 10. Other 12.5% Top Excuses for Time-Wasting Excuses % of Time-Wasters 1. Don't have enough work to do 33.2% 2. Underpaid for amount of work I do 23.4% 3. Co-workers distract me 14.7% 4. Not enough evening or weekend time 12.0% 5. Other 16.7% Top Time-Wasting States States Time-Wasted(a) 1. Missouri 3.2 hrs/day 2. Indiana 2.8 hrs/day 3. Kentucky 2.8 hrs/day 4. Wisconsin 2.8 hrs/day 5. Nevada 2.7 hrs/day 6. Oklahoma 2.7 hrs/day 7. Virginia 2.7 hrs/day 8. Pennsylvania 2.6 hrs/day 9. Connecticut 2.5 hrs/day 10. Idaho 2.5 hrs/day Top Time-Wasting Industries Industries Industries Time-Wasted(a) 1. Insurance 2.5 hrs/day 2. Public Sector (Non-Education) 2.4 hrs/day 3. Research & Development 2.3 hrs/day 4. Education 2.2 hrs/day 5. Software & Internet 2.2 hrs/day 6. Specialized Trades 2.1 hrs/day 7. Automotive (Non-Manufacturing) 2.1 hrs/day 8. Retail 2.1 hrs/day 9. Marketing & Communications 2.0 hrs/day 10. Finance & Banking 1.8 hrs/day (a) Average hours wasted -- per person, per day. Here are some other interesting facts about time-wasted at work: --Men vs. Women: Men and women waste about the same amount of time per day (approximately 2.1 hours). This, despite the fact that most HR managers surveyed suspected that women waste more time at work than men. --Youngsters vs. Seniors: As the following statistics show, the older you are, the less time you waste at work: Year of Birth Wasted Hrs/Pay (Avg.) 1930-1949 0.50 hrs/day 1950-1959 0.68 hrs/day 1960-1969 1.19 hrs/day 1970-1979 1.61 hrs/day 1980-1985 1.95 hrs/day --Cats vs. Mice: When setting employee salaries, corporate human resource managers assume that employees will waste 0.94 hours per day. However, those managers suspect that employees waste 1.60 hours per day. In fact, employees admit wasting 2.09 hours per day. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , mice spend significantly more time playing than cats (absent or otherwise) suppose. For more information about the survey results, read the Salary.com article "Wasted Time at Work Costing Companies Billions" on the AOL Find a Job site, which is available on the Web at AOL.com (click on Jobs) or on the AOL service at AOL Keyword: Jobs. AOL Find a Job, powered by CareerBuilder.com, gives job seekers job seeker also job·seek·er n. One who seeks employment. access to nearly 1 million continuously updated job postings, representing more than 30,000 of the top employers in virtually every industry and field. Survey Methodology America Online and Salary.com conducted in-depth research relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc time wasted at work, among 10,044 respondents (including AOL.com users, AOL members, Salary Wizard users, and corporate human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. professionals). Through a survey on the AOL Find a Job site, respondents were asked to indicate how much time they wasted in an average workday, assuming a 40-hour (8-hour per day) workweek. Demographic information (including respondent In Equity practice, the party who answers a bill or other proceeding in equity. The party against whom an appeal or motion, an application for a court order, is instituted and who is required to answer in order to protect his or her interests. geography, job category, and gender) was also collected in the study. Data was analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. by Salary.com's team of Certified Compensation Professionals A designation as a Certified Compensation Professional (or CCP®) signifies a mark of expertise and excellence in all areas of compensation throughout the human resource and global rewards community. The CCP designation requires a passing score on nine examinations. . About America Online, Inc. America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia Dulles, Virginia is an unincorporated census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The headquarters of AOL, Orbital Sciences Corporation and ODIN technologies and the former headquarters of MCI Inc. are located in Dulles. , America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services. About Salary.com, Inc. Salary.com is a leading provider of compensation solutions providing data, applications, and services to enterprises, small businesses and individuals. Salary.com's personal tools are used and trusted by millions. Salary.com's enterprise software helps companies manage their compensation expenditures with real-time, decision-ready data and analytical analytical, analytic pertaining to or emanating from analysis. analytical control control of confounding by analysis of the results of a trial or test. tools. Backed by a team of Certified Compensation Professionals, Salary.com is your partner in compensation. |
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