We’re smack dab in the middle of the holidays. Everyone and their mother needs/want time off of work, but the sign outside still says “Open”. Although this is a notoriously slow season for those non-retail or marketing businesses, there is still work to be done.
Working with a skeleton crew is something that many of us have gotten used to during this time of the year, or during popular vacation times. It’s do-able, but only with the right staff. Business slows down, and your office starts to look like Charlie Brown’s Christmas. As your staff dwindles down, you will need to make sure that they are engaged and actually getting work done.
As more time off requests role in, vacation time is being used and cold and flu season knocks out your workforce, it is vital that those in the office are running full steam ahead. Getting out of the office for the holidays doesn’t mean that work stops. Leaders who are managing a short staffed team need to be aware of the time wasters in their midst.
I know I was surprised to see some these statistics from a Tempo infographic, “Wasting Time at Work.”
- 64% of workers waste at least one hour per day.
- 22% waste 2 hours.
- 14% waste at least 3 hours.
Statistics like these should really incite a passion in leadership to facilitate engagement and motivation. If you’re like me, you don’t even want to know what those numbers translate to in dollars. Well get ready, because Tempo did that math for us. The following numbers are based off just 12 wasted hours per month, which is frankly on the low end of the time wasting spectrum for the average employee.
- A worker with a yearly salary of $47,300 will cost the company $3,283.20 in wasted time.
Although the infographic lends us some insight as to the common excuses for wasting time at work, we also get to see what the real time wasting culprits are. In a Salary.com survey, employees fessed up to their biggest distractions at work.
- Using the Internet
- Socializing with Co-Workers
- Personal Business/Phone Calls
- Taking Prolonged Breaks
By the way, the top excuse for wasting time at work was lack of satisfaction at work. For more great insights on times wasters at work and what management can do about them, check out the infographic below.
