Do waste time at work?

Two-thirds of employees admit they waste at least an hour a day at work, research has revealed. The report also found that just one in three managers feel their business is very productive, but around three quarters do not measure employee productivity at all.

When asked what prevents them being productive, a third of the 250 workers from blue-collar industries questioned said talking to colleagues – and just over half of the 255 managers surveyed agreed with this! Around a quarter of workers said bad management was a cause of poor productivity, while 44% of management respondents blamed tea and smoking breaks for low productivity levels.

HR has a key part to play in boosting workplace productivity – training, development, employee engagement and investment in employees’ progress are all vital to improving productivity.

Measuring productivity is also important: It drives living standards, wages and economic growth. Although most companies are aware of productivity there isn’t a clear standard used to measure productivity.