London - Typing busily at your office computer, it’s easy to look industrious as you ignore your bulging in-tray and book a family holiday or pay some bills instead.
In fact, the average worker spends an hour a day on personal tasks at their desk, according to researchers.
Three in ten employees even admit to taking up more time on their own errands than they have on their work.
Staff would rather bank online, reply to personal emails, search for holidays and shop for clothes on the internet.
Other distractions include checking the weather forecast, reading news sites and browsing or updating social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. As a result, just 88 percent of the day is actually spent working. The study of 2 000 workers found that around seven personal tasks are carried out during work hours every day.
Workers spend an average of £41 (about R600) from their desks each week – a total of £3 814 each a year – by shopping online and paying bills during work hours.
Online banking is the most common personal task, with more than a third admitting they regularly check their bank account from their desk.
Other personal tasks regularly carried out during office hours include searching for discount codes and vouchers, buying and selling on websites such as eBay and comparing insurance policy deals.
Booking holidays and keeping up to date with the latest sports news were also popular displacement activities.
About 38 percent of workers said they tended to do their own personal jobs during a quiet spell at work.
Another 22 percent claimed they did not have time to do their own admin in the evenings, while 20 percent admitted they did it at work because they were bored.
More than one in ten said they did it because colleagues did, which made it okay.
Almost a fifth of workers have missed a deadline or have failed to finish work because they were too busy doing their own personal tasks. Andy Oldham, managing director of the cashback site Quidco.com, which commissioned the research, said: “Everyone gets distracted at work and it seems many workers are spending a large chunk of their working hours concentrating on personal jobs instead.
“With good internet access on our mobile phones now, shopping and surfing the internet for personal reasons are no longer reserved only for those who work in front of a computer.”
Here are the top ten personal things Britons like to do during work hours:
1. Online banking
2. Check the weather
3. Check personal emails
4. Read news sites
5. Research holidays
6. Pay bills
7. Browse clothes online
8. Check social networks
9. Call friends
10. Online clothes shopping. - Daily Mail