It’s 2 p.m. Tuesday. Managers, what are your employees most likely doing?
Updating a Facebook status? Texting relatives? Dissecting the latest episode of “The Walking Dead”? Or working on the Acme account?
If you guessed one of the first three — or any other lollygagging on company time — you’d be correct about 25 percent of the time, according to a 2012 survey by Salary.com and AOL. American employees squander more than two hours each workday, costing employers tens of billions of dollars annually.
Personal use of technology is the leading productivity killer: 24 percent of workers admitted to wasting at least an hour a day on personal calls, emails or texts, according to a recent CareerBuilder poll, while 21 percent fessed to surfing the Internet for more than an hour a day with non-work-related searches. Facebook and other social media sites have been identified as black holes of workplace productivity.
Top 10 time-sucks
The top 10 time-sucks as identified by employers, according to the CareerBuilder poll, are:
• Cellphones and texting
• Gossiping
• The Internet
• Social media
• Snacking and smoke breaks
• Noisy co-workers
• Meetings
• Personal email
• Co-worker interruptions
• Speaker phones in office
But what about other time wasters, such as noisy co-workers, pointless meetings, unanticipated interruptions and even a lack of employee motivation?
“While many managers feel their teams perform at a desirable level, they also warn that little distractions can add up to bigger gaps in productivity,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “It’s important to be organized. … Minimize interruptions and save personal communications for your lunch hour or break. It can help put more time and momentum back into your workday.”
So what’s a manager to do? Experts offered advice:
Blacklist and monitor websites and Internet use
Many companies prohibit sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and about half of companies use software to track employees’ online activities at work, according to Biz 3.0 and Time Doctor.
But there’s a catch to thwarting “cyberloafing.” Prohibiting Internet use for personal reasons is effective only when it’s enforced. Although threats of termination can be a deterrent, the most effective approach is to let employees know of co-workers who have been fired or disciplined for inappropriate use.
Increase your visibility
Consultant and business coach Royale Scuderi suggests having supervisors spend more time on the office floor.
Excuses, excuses
The CareerBuilder survey included many unusual activities employees were caught doing when they should have been working.
Among the strangest:
• Blowing bubbles in sub-zero weather to see if the bubbles would freeze and break
• Caring for the pet bird she had smuggled into work
• Warming her bare feet under the bathroom hand dryer
• Shaving her legs in the women’s restroom
• Lying under boxes trying to scare people
• Having a wrestling match
• Sleeping, but claimed he was praying
• Taking selfies in the bathroom
“It’s not necessary to look over shoulders,” she said. “The mere presence of management is a deterrent to time-wasting.”
Increased interaction also may lead to a better understanding of problems and encourage resolutions.
Consider why employees are wasting time
In the Salary.com/AOL survey, 35 percent of respondents said they goof off because their work isn’t challenging, while 34 percent said their workday is too long. Thirty-two percent felt they had no incentive to work harder, 30 percent were dissatisfied with their job, and 23 percent were just bored.
Astute managers might be able to recognize such concerns and address them by giving employees more responsibility.
Streamline meetings
Is that weekly all-staff meeting really necessary? Does everyone need to be there?
Business coach Wendy Hearn warns that meetings can be tremendous time wasters if they don’t have a set agenda and timeframe.
“It’s too easy to fall into the habit of holding meetings without realizing that some of that time could be spent more effectively,” she said.
So, consider who needs to be at meetings and why, follow a set schedule and set specific time limits on discussion. Then stick to them.
Other suggestions for minimizing wasted time:
• Schedule lunches and break times.
• Use an open space layout rather than cubicles.
• Restrict the use of speaker phones in open spaces.
• Ask employees to track their day.
• Start a friendly competition to recognize productivity and reward people who achieve it.