Ditching the office in favor of remote work gave employees time to scroll through social media, shop online, run chores and even have sex while on the clock, according to a recent survey.
The extracurricular activities resulted in one in seven employees logging just three to four hours of actual work, according to the survey of 1,000 US-based remote workers by travel points-savvy advice site Upgraded Points.
The multitasking included 10.5% who admitted to a “nooner” during their shift and 11.8% who drank on company time, according to the study.
Other nonwork-related activities included 71.6% who did household chores, 37.4% who ran errands, 24% who took a power nap and 23% who went to the doctor, the survey found.
The survey also found that 74.7% scrolled through social media, 69.6% shopped online, 52.9% watched movies and 32.2% planned a trip.
Meanwhile, three in 10 remote workers who busy themselves with ancillary activities evade their boss by occasionally moving their mouse around so their status shows “active” rather than “away” or “offline,” the study found.
Upgraded Points found that Gen Z is the generation most likely to employ the tactic at 50.7%.
Survey results also showed that remote workers are often working from places other than their homes.
While most work from their home, 13.7% prefer reporting to a local coffee shop while 12.4% go to a friend’s house and 4.2% spend their workdays at a co-working space.
Meanwhile, 5.6% of remote workers “go to work” in airports, while 3.0% do the same from airplanes.
Despite the seeming distractions, two-thirds of the workers said they feel they’re more productive when free from office mandates.
To spend less time doing non-work activities, bosses may want to consider shortening the work week as 80% of respondents said they would spend more time on assigned tasks if they only had to work four days each week.
Most recently, Samsung jumped on the shortened-work-week bandwagon by giving staffers one Friday off per month.
Beginning next week, full-time staffers in the company’s corporate offices in South Korea will be able to take the Friday off on the week they receive paychecks.
Samsung’s move comes in the wake of local rival SK Hynix Inc.’s new policy of allowing workers who log more than 40 hours per week to take one Friday off each month.
In the UK, a total of 61 businesses with roughly 2,900 employees tested a four-day schedule from June through November of last year.
Of them, a whopping 91% said they were definitely continuing to follow a four-day schedule or were planning to continue, the study’s organizers said. Just 4% of the companies said they were returning to a five-day-per-week schedule.
And in America, Indeed listed Panasonic and clothing exchange site thredUP as two of 10 US-based companies to adopt a four-day work week, citing productivity, reduced overhead and talent retention as reason for the move.
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