Wasting time at work? You're not alone: survey

Americans who feel bored and underpaid do work hard -- at surfing the Internet and catching up on gossip, according to a survey that found U.S. workers waste about 20 percent of their working day .

An online survey of 2,057 employees by online compensation company Salary.com found about six in every 10 workers admit to wasting time at work with the average employee wasting 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour working day.

Personal Internet use topped the list as the leading time-wasting activity according to 34 percent of respondents, with 20.3 percent then listing socializing with co-workers and 17 percent conducting personal business as taking up time.

The reasons why people wasted time were varied with nearly 18 percent of respondents questioned by e-mail in June and July said boredom and not having enough to do was the main reason.

The second most popular reason for wasting time was having too long hours (13.9 percent), being underpaid (11.8 percent), and a lack of challenging work (11.1 percent).

While the amount of time wasted at work seems high, Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com. said the numbers have improved, with the amount of time wasted dropping 19 percent since Salary.com conducted its first annual survey on slacking at work in 2005. Then workers reported wasting 2.09 hours of their working day.

"I think (the decline) is really a result of the economy and that there's more business, more work available and less time to sit around wondering what you are going to do with your day," Coleman told reporters.

厭倦工作、又覺得薪金太低的美國人把時間都浪費到了上網和閑聊上。一項調查發現，美國人浪費了約20%的上班時間。

該項由在線薪酬公司Salary.com網站開展的在線調查共有2057名雇員參與。調查發現，每10名員工中約有6人承認自己上班時浪費時間。在一個典型的8.5小時工作日中，一般員工會浪費1.7個小時。

上網是第一大浪費上班時間的活動，有34%的受訪者利用上班時間上網；20.3%的受訪者在上班時與同事閑聊；17%的人處理私人事務。

人們利用上班時間做其它事情的原因各不相同。在6月和7月的電子郵件受訪者中，近18%的人稱這樣做的主要原因是無聊和沒事可做。

第二大原因是工作時間太長（13.9%）；其次是薪資太低（11.8%）和工作缺乏挑戰（11.1%）。

盡管看起來被浪費的上班時間很多，但Salary.com網站的薪資主管比爾· 柯爾曼說，從具體數字上看，情況還是有所改觀。自從2005年Salary.com網站首次開展此項一年一度的調查以來，被浪費的上班時間數下降了 19%。當時員工一個工作日浪費的時間為2.09小時。

科爾曼在接受記者采訪時說：“我認為這是經濟發展的結果。公司業務更多、需要處理的事情更多，員工們已沒有多余的時間去考慮如何打發時間了。”