So, I'm at work, reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, and of course checking out the Org and I came across an article that hit just a little too close to home. Pay heed, Orgers, we are being watched!

Study finds average worker wastes more than 2 hours daily

By MARSHALL LOEB

MarketWatch

NEW YORK — The average American worker admits to wasting 2.09 hours per day at work, not counting lunch. So says a Web survey by America Online and Salary.com.

While most human-resource managers expect the average employee to waste about an hour a day, the results of this survey were startling. These 2.09 hours per person per day add up to $759 billion in salaries.

Of the 10,044 people who responded, 44.7 percent cited personal Internet use, such as e-mail, instant messages or games as the No. 1 time-waster at work.

“Part of the reason for this is that the Internet is so irresistible,” says Bill Coleman, senior vice president at Salary.com, a site that specializes in compensation information. “It’s a temptation sitting on your desk in your office. It’s so easy to get distracted by personal e-mails or surfing. And the bottom line is that it looks like real work. It’s harder to get caught so it’s easier to rationalize.”If you find yourself wasting a lot of time at work, ask yourself some questions:

• Do you need more job responsibilities?

In all, 33.2 percent of people surveyed cited “not having enough work to do” as the No. 1 excuse for wasting time.

“There is an obligation on the part of the employee to tell his or her manager or boss that he or she has available time and needs more work to do,” says Coleman. “If you’re sitting at your desk planning your next vacation or fantasy football team, then you’re not really doing your job as an employee because you’re looking like you’re working, but you’re not.”

• Are you being watched?

It’s entirely possible that your wasting time has been noticed by the higher-ups.

“Employers definitely watch productivity and know who is doing the job and who isn’t,” says Coleman. If you value your job, get back in the game and make amends. Admit to your boss that you have been underperforming, and ask what you can do to be given more challenges.

• Is it time to start looking for a new job?

Wasting time at work could be a signal of your unhappiness at your job. If you notice yourself increasingly wasting time, ask yourself how valuable that time is to you; perhaps it’s time to start putting your time and energy towards work you’ll enjoy.

two hours? is that all?

2 hours?.....huh, yeah right.


M

I'd barely ever make it here to the Org, then.

Anxiety said:

that's what i was thinking

Mach said:

if you think about it, though, we spend 1/3 of our waking lives at work. even if we do waste two hours a day, that still means we spend 25% of our lives working for the man. if we live to be 80, that's 20 years. if you wanna be picky and subtract the years we went to school, assuming we went to college and graduated around age 20, that's still, what, 12 to 15 years?

if i give you 12 to 15 years of my life, you better allow for some me-time.

but then, i've never been a huge fan of the protestant work ethic...

When the Org wouldn't work this morning, I thought that it was just my computer and that the power's that be at my job were on to me about my waste of work time. I was frantic and had to check several other computers in the office before I could be assured that it was some sort of site problem.

They'll never catch me...bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha!