Keyboard is the key for time wasting Europeans

Only 5% of Europeans make personal phone calls, whilst 41% claim that chatting with colleagues is the biggest time waster at work, with Internet-related activities a close second, according to the latest Monster Meter.
What distracts you most at work? Whilst almost 40% of workers in Europe claim that it is either surfing on the Internet or online chatting, chit-chatting with colleagues comes first.

Over 8,000 people responded to the question posted on Monster''s sites across Europe, which asked What is your biggest time wasting vice at work?, revealing:
41% (3359 votes) said: Chit-chatting with colleagues.
33% (2673 votes) said: Surfing the Internet.
15% (1216 votes) said: Cigarette breaks.
6% (518 votes) said: Online chatting.
5% (437 votes) said: Personal phone calls.

Belgium and Sweden are the biggest chatterboxes, with well over the European average - 52% and 49% respectively - spending time conversing with colleagues whilst not engaged in their work. However, the Brits, the Irish and the Fins come out top for a somewhat more discreet activity, each with between 40% and 41% claiming that surfing on the Internet is their prime time-wasting occupation. On the other hand, the Germans, Danes and Belgians have the lowest numbers who blame the Internet for time wasting. It seems the Danes are too busy taking cigarette breaks, with a shockingly large fraction of people choosing this option - 28% compared the European average of 15%!

The impact of the Internet is demonstrated with a mere 5% of European voters claming that personal phone calls are responsible for most wasted time. We are all aware that the Internet has revolutionised the way we communicate in business, though we perhaps take for granted the ease with which it allows us to communicate on a personal level. For example, instant messaging applications mean that people can chat to each other whilst appearing to get on with their work. Also, many people do not hesitate to use the Internet at work to conduct a whole range of personal activities, ranging from booking holidays to personal banking.

Employers refer to time wasting as dead time and the effect that this can have on company profits can be excessive. According to LearnDirect, the elearning network, the average worker in the UK wastes 2 hours and 45 minutes each day, with a cost to employers of 3 billion a week. On the other hand, the Internet could be regarded as actually saving employers'' money. For example, when you are arranging a Friday night out with friends, it is possible to send one group email via an always-on Internet connection rather than making several phone costly peak-time phone calls, saving time and money rather than increasing costs.

As long as people have worked, there has always been an element of dead time, comments Hernan Daguerre, head of communications for Monster Europe. However, we are not robots and with an ever-growing culture of high stress and long working hours, employers need to be realistic when it comes to employee productivity. There is no doubt that the Internet has made it much easier for us to communicate with each other, but workers need to keep an eye on how much of their time is lost on personal communications. The practice of taking a full hour for lunch is dying out. Perhaps companies should resurrect the lunch hour and encourage employees to complete any personal chores or lengthy chats with colleagues within this time.

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster.co.uk visitors from 12th - 26th May 2003. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc. (formerly TMP Worldwide Inc.), is a series of online polls that gauge users'' opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monster''s current online poll may do so by logging onto