With today (3/22) being National Goof Off Day, I set out to find the answer to how much time the average worker wastes while at the office - and you won't believe what I found out. Oh my! Let's just say there is A LOT of "wasted time" each and every day.

First of all, I need to tell you a little bit more about Goof Off day. It's observed every March 22 and was created by a guy by the name of William D. Chase, the man also responsible for Chases's Calender of Events.

In 1976, his 10 year old granddaughter Monica was listening to him on the radio asking listeners to call in with ideas for holidays. So, she picked up the phone, called her grandpa and said there should be a Goof Off Day. And that's how the day came to be.

It's the one day each year when, instead of doing something productive, we're all suppose to goof off. You're job (should you choose to accept it) is to accomplish absolutely nothing today - because there's always tomorrow.

So, just for fun, I decided to see if I could find out how many hours the average employee admits to goofing off every day. Turns out it's A LOT.

According to The Muse, the average worker whittles away three hours during an eight hour workday - and that doesn't include lunch or scheduled break times.

The top four time wasters:

  1. Surfing the Web
  2. Socializing with co-workers
  3. Spacing out
  4. Searching for a new job

The top three reasons why workers waste time:

  1. Lack of work
  2. Feeling underpaid
  3. Distracted by co-workers

Here's the interesesting part though - the older the worker the less time that is wasted. Fascinating!

If you would like to find out more about why people waste time at work, in addition to some interesting and mind-blowing statistics, here's a link to the Muse website.

Source: The Muse, Chases's Calendar of Events, Checkiday


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