SmallBizResource Blog -- SmallBizResource

Time Awasting? It Could Be Worse Than You Know

Posted by Judy Mottl Sunday, Aug 19, 2007, 06:53 PM ET

The 'work' day is supposed to be about 8.5 hours.. with either a half or a full hour for lunch right. That's the expectation. With any small business every hour of that day is key to business. So what would you do if you discovered your small staff or employees were whittling away at least an hour or nearly two hours doing something other than work?

Personally, I'd freak. Completely. I mean one to hours a day equals five to 10 hours a week--with a small staff that could translate to a full week of workable hours down the toilet.

Yet that's what's happening in business today. According to a recent InformationWeek article workers are wasting less time than last year but it's little consolation given they're still spending a bit too much time on other things such as:

Using the Internet for personal reasons
Socializing with co-workers
Conducting personal business and running errands

Now an AOL/Salary.com research effort shows that not all time wasted is actually wasted. Come again? It seems a little downtime...water cooler talk...small breaks to gab...all can inspire and rejuvenate worker creativity and productivity.

Hmmmm. Ok there might be some slight truth to that.

What do you think? Have you ever tried to assess what amount of time is wasted by workers in your small business? Is that even possible for a boss to do?

Post your ideas on how you've cut down the chit-chat or tried to limit time wasting and how it worked.

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