Why employees choose to waste time at work

Motivating employees, described as the most precious resource of any company or business, continues to be the key to success, experts emphasise.

Some surveys believe working conditions make the difference. Proponents of this theory conclude that the office environment, including employee strength, adequate natural and artificial lighting, noise levels and flexible workstations are all of importance.

But some experts also point to the relationship between employees and their bosses.

"In general, employee productivity depends greatly on their qualifications, internal working environment and the supervision mechanism [in place]," Einas Al Tamimi, a human resources specialist in an Amman-based company, said.

The lack of a follow-up system to evaluate employees and their output by senior management is one of the main reasons for time wasting and lower productivity, Al Tamimi added.

Time wasters in the private sector differ from those in the public sector, experts noted. The reasons also vary.

While public sector employees waste time because of the light workload, private sector workers are under pressure. High stress levels could lead to time being wasted.

The over-staffed environment in government offices could make employees slacken.

"Theoretically speaking, it should be the opposite. But actually, under-staffed companies are better in productivity than over-staffed ones," Tarek Rashid, a Certified Trainer and Consultant with the UN said. "When there are many employees, each will wonder why he or she has to do the job, let the others do it. It ends up with no one doing it."

"Employees waste time during their working hours because they don't feel relevant and they don't feel belonging to that place," Rashid added.

Clear strategy

Such a feeling is a result of a lack of clear strategy concerning the employee's role. Some may feel that work is being thrust upon them, and they may feel like being treated as machines.

Lack of trust between the subordinate and superiors is also a vital element.

"Trust depends on the existence of the two Cs: competency and credibility," Rashid said, adding that both Cs depend on qualifications and confidence in the abilities. "Blind trust is what is required."

Some companies, however, resort to the carrot-and-stick approach instead of creating self-commitment among the staffers.

Productive staff usually look for new employment opportunities once they reach the conclusion that their working environment is "not suitable for production". This also creates a general sense of disloyalty.

Evaluating staffers on clear criteria instead of "boss's personal judgment" is also required, experts noted.

Paying more attention to worker training programmes and initiating a reward system to motivate them bonuses and increments and awarding ideal/best employees at regular intervals are among ways to boost motivation and employee loyalty.

Other elements include creating a healthy competition environment as well as setting clear and specified targets that are achievable within a limited timeframe.

Gaining the loyalty of workers and raising their productivity levels include putting the right person in the right place, instead of nepotism and favouritism, according to experts.

"In some companies, qualified people are fought because others fear they will take their positions," Rashid said.

A highly productive Japan-ese workforce, according to Al Tamimi, is a result of Japanese management generally believing that managers "should spend at least 50 per cent of their time on improvement and development of the work process".

On another front, Arab and western companies differ in terms of the money spent on research and development studies, adopting the specialisation principle, establishing a system rather than following an individual-based mechanism, Rashid explained.

However, at the top of the list comes overcoming the problem of workers wasting time.