A nation of procrastination: How we waste time at work

by Startacus Admin

At work, boredom is more than likely to set in. It could be while doing a repetitive task, when there’s nothing immediate to do or if the end of the day is approaching and the temptation to mess around becomes all too hard to resist. Irrespective of the circumstances, many of us end up wasting a little time in the office, but how do we do it?

Time-wasting comes in many forms. It could involve doing menial tasks such as tidying desks, talking to colleagues about something not related to work or taking a lot longer than necessary in doing certain things like eating lunch or going to wash our hands. Even when things might seem a little slow at work, time is still seen as a precious commodity by many business leaders.

The go-slow

A survey conducted by Ecigarettedirect into the effects of time-wasting in the office found that an astonishing 83% of respondents had spent time at work rearranging the paperwork on their desks. Furthermore, 79% owned up to having tidied up their email inbox in order to pass the time, while 79% said they spent a little extra time in the toilets to speed the day up.

Slow working days are commonplace, but is time-wasting acceptable? In the vast majority of cases, the answer is no, but working non-stop can be draining, especially by Friday afternoon. Having time to waste could be as a result of working efficiently at the start of the week. This is something many businesspeople including James Caan, the former Dragons’ Den star, swears by.

Spending spare time doing something useful could be the answer, but as Caan stresses, using it efficiently is a must. This could mean putting a few spare minutes towards something like research or preparing for a big upcoming task instead of procrastinating in front of the desk.

If you like what you see here on Startacus, why not become a member of our growing community? It's free! And you'll get all this - exclusive access to our Business Toolkit, discounts and offers galore for your business via our member only business deals, the chance to network and connect with loads of fellow self-starters, and maybe even become our celebrated 'Self-Starter of the Week' and tell the world your startup tale! Join right here for free...

• #procrastination
• #work
• #waste time

Published on: 2nd July 2014