Facebook Isn’t the Worst Time Waster

A nationwide survey sponsored by TrackVia has determined that employers wishing to increase employee productivity should first focus on upgrading their computer systems before banning Facebook.

The survey found that both computer glitches and idle chatting outpaced social media websites as the top time wasters in the workplace recording 11 percent, 14 percent, and 5 percent, respectively. Another issue long reported by employees to be a hindrance to productivity, company policies and procedures, was found to be of only mild concern. Only 4 percent of respondents considered it to be the biggest waste of time at work while 44 percent indicated that they actually increased productivity to some extent.

Other findings uncovered during the survey include:

• 15 percent of employees spend between one and two hours per week dealing with misunderstandings and miscommunications with coworkers. A further 7 percent said that spend at least three hours on this task.

• Office politics was reported as a one to two hour weekly time waster by 17 percent of respondents, a three to five hour inconvenience for 7 percent of respondents, and an over six hour time sink for a further 7 percent of employees.

• Over one-third of employees spending time in weekly meetings reported that at least half of that time was wasteful while about 20 percent of workers said they spend at least three hours per week attending meetings.

• Company procedures were reported to greatly increase productivity by 11 percent of respondents where only 2 percent said that they greatly reduced productivity.