Working Hard or Hardly Working? Statistics about Workplace Productivity

I work at a call center, and I got docked on a quality monitoring call for having a website open in the background. We are allowed to browse websites in between calls, and instead of minimizing the screen, I left the browser open and brought the work program to the front. I think that these numbers are interesting but wonder like many others how truly relevant they are. . . If the work is getting done, and there's nothing else to do, does it matter?

What I found interesting was that there seems to be a clear effort to detail all the time we spend at work doing personal things, but no one seems interested in how that is offset by people doing work after hours from home. If we waste more time during the work day in recent years, is that simply because our jobs expect us to work online from home in the evening, carry a cell-phone at all times, and be available to respond to email at times outside normal working hours?

Thats my main issue with a study like this … it makes workers feel "lazy" by not putting the full picture out there. We may well "waste" 3 hours a day while at work, but we also spend far more time connected to our work after hours than we ever have in the past. For these numbers to be accurate, they need to be analyzed against that trend of increasing electronic leashing to our offices.
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Haha, I read this the first time at work too… and I instantly felt bad reading all those statistics. My excuse is that I had really boring tasks yesterday, and I couldn't help it, I just suddenly found myself here… just like that

I'm not aware of my workplace banning any sites, but I suspect they do closely monitor what sites we visit. Though I didn't always visit strictly work related sites, no one's ever told me off for it. Then again, I'm not the only one in the company who does so

And it would be really boring without youtube. I need music while working, and use Youtube as a sort of jukebox (honest, I don't actually watch the videos, but just make playlists). My previous workplace banned all streaming media and the ability to download mp3 files. Always had to stock up from home
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The first time I read this I was actually at work. Great strip. My office does not ban sited such as FB but all computer activity which on the network is tracked. So you should only be on there if there is nothing else to do.
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Also….companies are beginning to utilize sites like facebook and chat, my company just started their own 'facebook' site. I think facebook/twitter/chat actually do more good for large corporations with multiple offices throughout the world. Net meetings and webinars eliminate travel/hotel costs. Also I think if companies actually incorporate their own intranet facebook/twitter/chat it would generate better understanding/teamwork between employees and even help to streamline processes and most certainly opens up opportunity for improvement. I hate picking up my phone when I can just send an email on outlook and I usually get a response within 20 minutes.

On top of that, as long as you do your assignments and perform quality work, who's to judge?

And to be honest, I hate these studies that shake their fingers at the 'average joe' workers…..what about the corporate bigwigs and financiers that get the big bucks?? (Huge salary discrepancy between 'them' and 'us')

Who's to say they don't slack off every once and a while?!

Wow. Those stats are actually rather astonishing to me. It's really sad to see such a waste of time. Are they completely taking for granted the fact they HAVE a job? Then again, my view might be skewed, because in my previous jobs (except for part-time side jobs), I had to keep a record of how much time I spent on each task, in order to be able to bill clients. Maybe I would have wasted more time if I wouldn't have had to account for it all?
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Interesting! Our employer decided to get really tough on its employees a couple of years ago when it came to the internet. A sting operation ensued and email accounts were scrutinized. Those employees that spent all morning day in and day out forwarding jokes and questionable content were either written up, sent home unpaid while their activities were investigated or fired depending upon the severity of their activities. It was a scare tactic because so many people thought they were going to lose their jobs or be accused of sexual harrassment in the workplace. It all started when an employee opened her email while her boss was standing behind her and a joke porn video began to play ….. after that, internet time wasting plummeted and many of the employees no longer even so much as read their personal email at work let alone Facebook!
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My work bans Facebook and Fantasy sports. I don't care about facebook, but fantasy football sucks.

However, I don't think it matters how many hours you waste at work if you get stuff done. Do your job, go a little above and beyond, and if that only takes 20 hours, then congratulations!
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HAHA! That Pacman statistic cracked me up. Me and the HR manager definitely got our Pacman time in on Google. :-p
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