By Sylvia Carr, 13 April 2005 16:35
NEWS Do you read online news or send personal emails and text messages when you should be working? You're not alone, according to new research.
Eighty per cent of UK employees admitted to taking part in these sorts of non-work activities - termed 'desk skiving' - in a recent survey sponsored by Captor Group, an HR management solutions company.
And they are spending considerable time on tasks such as browsing news sites, conducting personal research via search engines, sending personal texts and shopping online.
Just how much? A third of respondents said they spent 15 to 30 minutes a day on personal activities - equivalent to 14 days per year - while eight per cent said they spent more than two hours a day.
A virtuous 21 per cent said they did not do this at all or only on scheduled breaks.
Women are twice as likely as men to spend more than two hours 'desk skiving', while the older a worker is, the less likely he is to do it at all.
The top reason was 'needing to get something personal done in a hurry', but 30 per cent said it was because they were required to work extra hours and through lunch.
Most workers believe their bosses don't mind their 'desk skiving' habits though, with over half saying their employers think 'it is OK within limits'.
The findings are based on a survey of nearly 1,500 UK employees with internet and mobile phone access.
Plus: Read silicon.com's leader on why people work the way they do.
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
"Homing from Work" is the term I prefer, necessary because they won't let me work from home.
BTW how many hours are 'wasted' reading silicon.com articles?
2. anonymous
I don't see the difference between this and the personal phone calls we used to make more of, and the non work related chats at the coffee machine. People not working on a production line of some sort don't generally work flat out.
3. anonymous
I do not believe that this is a technological phenominum, but has been carried out throughout history through such archaic media as conversation and memoranda.
Of course the new aspect is all the trade emails that abound emploring one to visit websites and complete surveys, leave comments etc....
4. anonymous
The antidote to Presenteeism.
I used to have a boss who was in the office by 7am and didn't leave until 7:30 pm. She wanted to miss the traffic commuting from Oxford to London, she didn't have anything to do, she didn't have a social life apart from sucking up to her boss, but woe betide anyone who went home before she did.
People used to just sit there, reading the paper, doing the crossword, rearranging their files - all of which was "showing commitment to the company." So long as "being at your desk" is taken to mean "working" then desk skiving will continue - in a culture where thinking is assumed to only happen when you're sitting down, there really isn't enough to do.
5. Stuart Roebuck
Rather than attempt to comment on this I'll leave it to Shel Holtz…"Here we go again" <http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/here_we_go_again/>
6. anonymous
Which is exactly what I am doing now, reading this when I should be working.
7. anonymous
Try a survey on unpaid overtime, I think you'll find that it more than covers the time spent desk skiving.
8. anonymous
>Women are twice as likely as men to
>spend more than two hours 'desk skiving'
Only twice? I expected this figure to be much, much higher. The birds at my company practically spend all day 'desk skiving'.
9. Joel Watson
'Try a survey on unpaid overtime, I think you'll find that it more than covers the time spent desk skiving.'
Good point anonymous, i would like to see that too!
10. anonymous
Unfortunately (for me) the skivers who spend half their day on a ciggy break and the other half having a natter with colleagues get away with it because there is no simple way of monitoring them. On the other hand, I am far more likely to get into trouble for browsing the internet for an hour during the day simply because it will be logged. The defence that I spend far more time at my desk than most of my colleagues will be ignored.