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8/21/05

WORKPLACE
Net surfing, socializing costing US companies

US workers are spending more than two hours a day surfing the Internet, gossiping at the water cooler, running errands, and looking for other jobs — activities that cost their employers $759 billion per year, according to a new survey by Needham-based Salary.com and America Online.

The findings, from a national poll of 10,044 employees, seem to contradict prior reports that described American workers as the most productive — and overworked — in the world. The change, said researchers, may stem in part, from the Internet, which allows employees to take additional breaks throughout the day without leaving their desks. Of those polled, for example, the majority — 44.7 percent — said they waste time randomly surfing the Net.

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The next big time-waster? Socializing. The survey found that 23.4 percent of those polled spend a considerable amount of time talking to friends and associates. Other top time-wasters: conducting personal business, daydreaming or spacing out, running errands and making personal telephone calls.

Workers say they're not always to blame. In all, 33.2 percent said they didn't have enough work to keep them busy, and more than 23 percent said they waste time because they are underpaid and unappreciated.

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A separate survey of human resource managers by Salary.com reveals that employers assume workers will waste about .94 hours, or 56.4 minutes per day and they take that into account when doing compensation planning. The human resource providers reported that their employers suspect that employees actually waste about 1.6 hours a day on various activities that have nothing to do with work. However, when researchers polled employees, they admitted to wasting 2.09 hours daily.

''To some bosses, that's a startling figure,'' said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of Salary.com. ''Others, though, will view this extra wasted time as so-called creative waste, time that may well have a positive impact on the company's culture, work environment and even business results.''

The findings reveal that men and women waste the same amount of time daily. Yet, many human resource managers told the researchers they thought women wasted more time than men.

Another finding: younger workers waste more time than their older colleagues. Those born between 1930 and 1949 waste, on average, .50 hours per day. By contrast, employees born between 1970 and 1979 waste 1.61 hours. And younger employees, born between 1980 and 1985, waste 1.95 hours daily.

When the researchers looked at the industries that account for the most wasted time, they found five.

They are insurance, with 2.5 hours daily; the public sector, with 2.4 hours; research and development, with 2.3 hours; education, with 2.2 hours, and software development and the Internet, also 2.2 hours.

The top time-conserving industries are: shipping and receiving (1.7 hours), manufacturing (1.8 hours), healthcare (1.8 hours), banking and finance (1.8 hours), and marketing and communications, (2 hours).

AOL and Salary.com also reported that, regionally, workers in the Midwest waste the most time. Employees in the South waste the least amount of time, and New England workers are in the middle.

For example, workers in Maine and Vermont waste 1.8 hours per day, costing their employers each year $2.4 billion and $1.2 billion respectively. In Massachusetts, workers waste 1.9 hours each day, costing employers $14 billion annually.

EMPLOYMENT
Many not convinced job market is improving

The jobs report might have been positive in July, but many US workers are still worried about the job market. A survey by Ajilon Professional Staffing reveals that 41 percent gave the economy mixed reviews.

''American workers have been overworked and underpaid for quite some time and it's going to take a lot to convince them that we have an enduring, strong job market, said Neil Lebovits, president and chief operating officer of the staffing firm. Although 207,000 workers found jobs last month, only 25 percent of the people polled said the job market was improving.

COLLEGEWISE
Network sets database for disabled students

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities, a national network of colleges, universities, private companies and federal agencies, said last week it will launch a nationwide job posting and resume database next year to allow college students with disabilities to post resumes and conduct job searches online.

''We want to be able to give employers a great source of college students with disabilities,'' said Alan Muir, executive director of the network.

He said the database would be underwritten by the network's corporate sponsors, including Procter & Gamble, Merck & Co., and Lockheed Martin. In addition, companies will be encouraged to post jobs and search the resume data bank for potential job candidates.

Founded in 2000 by Muir and Robert Greenberg, former career services director at the University of Tennessee, the network includes 400 members, including 250 colleges and universities, 100 US firms and several federal agencies.

Since its inception, the organization has held annual conferences in a push to bring employers and college students with disabilities together. Last month, for example, it hosted the sixth annual conference at Emmanuel College in Boston. The event was sponsored by Merck & Co. and Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Massachusetts Inc.

Muir said college students with disabilities are less likely to contact campus career centers and, as a result, are less likely to receive the kind of mentoring, internships, resume writing and training that can help them find employment or launch a career.

Certainly, there is reason for concern. At 40 percent, the unemployment rate for the country's 50 million Americans with disabilities remains high despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act some 15 years ago. The law has been instrumental in encouraging the installation of railings, ramps, handicapped parking, curb cuts for wheelchair users, new technical visual aids and devices that have made it easier for people with disabilities to go about their daily lives.

But such workers still have trouble finding good jobs.

Muir said companies are showing ''tremendous interest in identifying and integrating graduates and students with disabilities in the workplace. Companies are attracted to COSD because, for years, they tried to recruit students with disabilities but were not able to find students. Now, we are offering them access to universities that are integrating students with disabilities in their campus career centers.''

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at .

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