News

May 30, 2014

What do we really do at work all day?

The average British office worker will consume 34,560 hot drinks, read more than a million emails and visit the loo 33,000 times during their career, according to a new survey by LondonOffices.com.

The study of working behaviour found that over the course of the working day we will send an average 75 emails and receive 105. Over an average working lifetime that means sending 750,000 and receiving 1,053,000 emails.

On average, more than half an hour will be spent on the telephone and 13 minutes will be spent standing by the printer or photocopier. That equates to three months waiting by the printer and ten months on the telephone.

The survey also highlights the many ways that employees waste time at work. It found that 43 minutes a day on average is spent gossiping with colleagues. In addition, employees spend 37 minutes looking at news websites and waste 23 minutes looking at their social media profiles.

New research also released this week, by ECigaretteDirect.co.uk, has found that tidying desks, organizing email inboxes and long loo breaks are the top ways that Brits waste time at work.

The poll found that 83% confessed to have tidied paperwork on their desk in order to waste time, and 79% admitted to reorganising their email inbox to make the minutes go by. More than three quarters (76%) said that they had spent a longer time than necessary in the toilet in order to help the day go a bit quicker.

The majority of respondents, 57%, said that they had offered to make a large round of teas and coffees so they could spend some time in the kitchen rather than at their desk.

Related resources:

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• How to deal with workplace ego clashes ARTICLE
• How to conduct a performance appraisal CHECKLIST