Did you know that the average Briton will spend 3,507 days at work over the course of their lifetime?
Everyone has different working patterns and different ways of learning and working, but as a business manager, you want to make sure you are getting the most out of your employees. So, how much are your workers actually working?
Employees at work
Your employees will spend a lot of time in the office, which results in a lot of numbers to work out. For example the amount of times they make tea or coffee for themselves and for their colleagues, which is around 7,900 times over their career.
People also have an estimated number of 6 office romances and 812 arguments at work during their careers. But perhaps to numbers that employers are more interested in is how much time employees actually spend working.
During the working day, there can be many distractions and disruptions that break up the day and make your employees less productive.
Sometimes these distractions can be induced by the employee themselves, such as checking the news. Whilst other times, disruptions may be work-related, such as having many meetings in a day.
There have been many studies which has been conducted in an attempt to find out just how much work the average office worker does. The results are not pretty, as studies have found the employees are working for an average of 2 hour and 23 minutes during each day.
What are your employees doing?
There are many reasons as to why people are not working, the most common ones are checking social media (47%) and reading news websites (45%).
Discussing out of work activities with colleagues (38%) comes in third on the list of how employees spend their time at work. Then making hot drinks is in fourth place (31%), after which smoking breaks follow (28%), and then texting/instant messaging is fifth (27%).
Other activities that your employees get up to instead of working include eating snacks (25%), making food in the office (24%), making calls to their partners or friends (24%), and finally, searching for new jobs (19%).
Going to the bathroom and applying make-up are also ways in which your employees could be using their work hours. In fact, one study found that 1 in 3 women (32%) would rather arrive late for a meeting with make-up on, than arrive on time and not have any make-up on. (Source:https://www.glamourpilot.co.uk/)
Breaks can be good
Don’t despair just yet, taking breaks can be good for your employees as it can make them more productive.
Some studies have shown that taking breaks from work can actually help people work more efficiently and productively. Most people work better when they work in short stints, as opposed to staring at a screen for hours.
To improve your employee’s hours spent working productively, you could encourage your them to take breaks which benefit their energy levels or their thinking abilities. For example, encourage them to take breaks where they go for a short walk, do some puzzles, or read something that interests them.
Alternatively, you could let your employees play games at work, this helps to create teamwork and brings your employees together. In turn, you will have happier employees who have a higher morale, which means they will do more work.
