I recently read this AOL Press Release that states 61% of people who work outside of the home check ther personal email on the average of three times a day at work. While this is a large number, I was actually surprised that the percntage wasn’t more. When I worked from an office, I routinely checked my email during my lunch or surfed the web. I was good about not surfing or doing personal things during the day, but i can’t deny that it happened occasionally.
SmartPros released this great study that said the average worker admits to wasting 2.09 hours of their day NOT including their lunch break. From what I’ve seen, this is pretty accurate. Even before Internet existed in most workplaces, people found a way to slack off. I remember when I worked at an office in California, most people would get to work, check their work email, read the news, and then all meet to walk down to the local coffee shop. This took about an hour, but it was included in the workday. No one stayed an extra hour to make up for the time they wasted.
I think most employers are aware of these statistics and accept them. As long as their employees produce results and perform to their expected level, there usually isn’t an issue. The study shows that most employers expect the employees to waste an hour a day outside of their lunch periods. Another fact that doesn’t surprise me is the younger the worker, the more time they wasted.
What are your personal experiences with this; either as an employee or an employer??
Signs that we’re hooked on e-mail:
* We wake up and check it. Forty one percent check e-mail first thing in the morning, 18% check it right after dinner, 14% say they check e-mail right when they get home from work, and 14% do so right before they go to bed.
* We can’t make it through the night. Forty percent of e-mail users have checked their e-mail in the middle of the night.
* We can’t live without it! More than one in four (26%) say they haven’t gone more than two to three days without checking their e-mail.
* We have multiple accounts. Most e-mail users have two or three e-mail accounts (56%). The average user has 2.8 accounts.
* We check it anytime, anywhere. E-mail users have checked their e-mail in a variety of locations, including:
- In bed in their pajamas (23%) - In class (12%) - In a business meeting (8%) - At a Wi-Fi hotspot, like Starbuck’s or McDonald’s (6%) - At the beach or pool (6%) - In the bathroom (4%) - While driving (4%) - In church (1%)
* E-mail me, please… When meeting someone new, e-mail users are about as likely to give the other person their e-mail address (32%) as their home phone number (37%) or cell phone number (28%).
* About half of those who check personal e-mail at work (47%) check it sporadically throughout the day, while about one in four (25%) check it first thing when they arrive, 18% check it at lunchtime, 8% during an afternoon break and 2% right before they head home.
* Women are more likely than men to check their personal e-mail at work throughout the day (50% vs. 44%), while men are more likely than women to check their personal e-mail first thing when they arrive in the morning (28% vs. 21%).
* Those who check personal e-mail at work are slightly more likely to say they do so to take care of personal errands (26%) rather than to correspond with friends and family (20%).
* 20% feel guilty about checking personal e-mail at work, and women are twice as likely as men to feel guilty about sending personal e-mails from the office (27% vs. 13%).
* About one in ten of those who check personal e-mail at work (9%) have been busted by the boss for doing so.
