IT pros feel no guilt for slacking off at work

gallery

Nearly 80 per cent of UK IT professionals spend half an hour surfing the internet at work each day, according to a new survey.

The survey, completed by The IT Job Board, also reported that three quarters of IT professionals in the UK do not feel guilty about doing personal tasks at work.

And just what constitutes personal tasks? Well, 50 per cent of UK workers make personal phone calls, 59 per cent interact with colleagues, and 61.4 per cent send non-work e-mails while on the clock.

Perhaps surprisingly, hits on Hotmail and Yahoo both outranked those on Facebook in the survey. Results showed that 39.9 per cent of employees used Hotmail or Yahoo compared to the 9.9 per cent who checked their Facebook, illustrating how often people check their personal e-mail accounts compared to their Facebook walls at work.

Additionally, 10 per cent of females and 17 per cent of males spend more than one hour online each work day. But, two-thirds of employees believe their company should be able to manage or block access to certain web sites.

The survey, which also examined IT professional’s habits in Belgium and The Netherlands, cited being underpaid for the amount of work being done - or not having enough work to do - as the top reasons for personal surfing.

Email to a friend

Print this page