In a survey of 865 office workers, it was discovered that Brits are spending more than 2 hours a day procrastinating. British employees spend 3 hours and 5 minutes of a working week on social media and companies are paying out on average £8,851.14 per employee (based on an annual salary of £32,782) for this time wasted annually.

Whilst productivity slows down in the office as the week goes on, time certainly does not. Whilst it may seem innocent to office employees to detour from work-related material daily, this invisible cost has proven to become particularly expensive. New research by Rebootonline.com has exposed how much time staff really spend procrastinating at their place of work.

The survey revealed that, on average, Brits are spending 122 minutes a day procrastinating, meaning they are only working 73 per cent of the hours they are employed to do. Results highlighted that on average office workers are spending 37 minutes on social media daily and 33 minutes’ daily surfing other websites.

Some companies have even taken the initiative to ban the use of social media in the workplace but a survey from Pew Research Center discovered 77 per cent of employers overrode this unwritten rule. Other policies such as giving employees social media breaks have popularised. Staples conducted a survey in 2016 to find that 64 per cent of employees agreed allowing social media breaks increased employee productivity.

However, it is not just those immersed in social networking that are wasting valuable time spent in the office. Additional findings by Reboot online emphasised that staff are spending 15 minutes making coffee and 12 minutes using the toilet daily. Although these are elements of the working day that cannot be avoided, 62 per cent admit to undertaking these office rituals purely due to boredom.

Moreover, the survey had revealed that the common one-hour break for lunch and the out of office hours spent at the pub are not enough for the average worker. Employees spend an extra 25 minutes chatting with their colleagues daily.

Shai, MD of Rebootonline.com said, “although the results are quite shocking, it’s important to avoid any knee jerk reactions and understand that some “off time” could have an overall beneficial effect on productivity in the workplace. In most cases, the benefits far outweigh the time lost. Saying that, it does need to be kept under control and if staff members are found to abuse the freedom given to them, this needs to be brought up at the appropriate time.”