Just the right article for recruiters and prospective employers to look at when doing any hiring:

According to a survey on Salary.com, employees admit to “wasting” approximately 2.09 hours of each work day. How do they waste the time? Surfing the Net, chatting with co-workers, making personal phone calls, and running personal errands.

Here’s how the time wasting break down:

1. Surfing the Internet — 44.7 percent
2. Socializing with co-workers — 23.4 percent
3. Conducting personal business — 6.8 percent [Bowers’ note: I’m not sure if this means calling your hairstylist to schedule an appointment or running a dry-cleaning business out of your cube.]
4. Spacing out — 3.9 percent [Bowers’ note: How, exactly, would you measure that?]
5. Running errands off-premise — 3.1 percent
6. Making personal phone calls — 2.3 percent
7. Applying for other jobs — 1.3 percent
8. Planning personal events — 1.0 percent
9. Arriving late/leaving early — 1.0 percent
10. Other — 12.5 percent [Bowers’ note: Other? What’s left, dare I ask?]

Also according to the survey, the way in which time is wasted also varies by age:

• 58-77 years old: 0.50 hours per day
• 48-57 years old: 0.68 hours per day
• 38-47 years old: 1.19 hours per day
• 28-37 years old: 1.61 hours per day
• 22-27 years old: 1.95 hours per day

(Wonder how much time is “wasted” in meetings or poor communication between departments?) Do you think these numbers are about right? How do you “waste” time?

1.95 hours per day X 5 X 4 = 39 hrs per month is almost equivalent to taking 5 hrs off per day in a week and for a 7.5 hrs workday, for some, this is equivalent to taking a train or bus ride to your workplace, showing yr face in the office to say "hi" and returning home again ! Wonder as to whether this was the trigger point for companies to consider working-from--home- policy ?