pwfm Timely Tuesday - Time-Wasters at Work

The Biggest Time-Wasters at Work

If it seems like you’re always working, but never getting your work done, you’re not alone. Experts say that most employees spend half of their day doing necessary but unproductive tasks, like filing. Here are a few more of the biggest time-wasters:

•First up: SPAM. On average, workers spend an hour a day weeding junk out of their inbox.

•Next on the list of things that waste time at work: Meetings. In a survey done by Microsoft, employees said they logged about six hours a week in the conference room, but only one out of four people thought the meetings they attended were productive.

•The 3rd reason people don’t get much done at work: Interruptions. When The Institute for Advanced Management Research looked at how employees used their time, they found that the average office worker dealt with seven interruptions an hour, and 25% said they were regularly asked about social matters when they had a pressing deadline.

•This last one is literally a pain: Almost nine out of 10 workers say their uncomfortable office chairs make them much less productive.

Finally: Let’s end on a bright spot: More new jobs are being created! When Bank of America asked corporate financial officers about their hiring plans for this year, almost half said they were going to add new people on a permanent, full-time basis. That’s almost double what most experts expected.