Scores of the UK’s largest businesses gave up in-person working altogether in 2020, and with 78% of at-home or hybrid workers reporting an improved work-life balance, it’s no wonder that Zoom culture is still very much thriving.
The experts at Reboot decided to investigate how much time people waste working from home as opposed to in person, in a survey of 5,265 UK workers aged 18-65.
Average maximum hours wasted every week*
| Work from home | Hybrid | Work in person |
| 2.5 | 2.71 | 4.26 |
Reboot found that in-person workers waste the most time, with up to 4.26 hours per week spent on non-work related activities. In contrast to this figure, those who work from home or take a hybrid approach waste significantly less paid time, wasting just 2.5 and 2.71 paid hours per week respectively.
Top time wasting activities
| Percentages of Total | ||||
| Rank | Activity | WFH | Not WFH | Total |
| 1 | Social Media | 12.04% | 23.23% | 35.27% |
| 2 | Internet browsing/shopping | 11.09% | 19.91% | 31.00% |
| 3 | Socialising | 5.57% | 14.32% | 19.89% |
| 4 | Computer Games | 5.84% | 6.38% | 12.22% |
| 5 | Self-grooming | 11.94% | 0.00% | 11.94% |
| 6 | Job hunting | 4.88% | 5.33% | 10.21% |
| 7 | Daydreaming | 0.00% | 9.87% | 9.87% |
| 8 | Sleeping | 5.20% | 2.45% | 7.65% |
| 9 | Personal calls | 0.00% | 7.51% | 7.51% |
| 10 | Reading | 4.46% | 2.71% | 7.17% |
| 11 | Eating and Drinking | 0.00% | 6.90% | 6.90% |
| 12 | Sexual Activities | 5.09% | 1.40% | 6.49% |
| 13 | Household Admin | 5.52% | 0.00% | 5.52% |
| 14 | Cleaning | 5.25% | 0.00% | 5.25% |
| 15 | Pets | 4.93% | 0.00% | 4.93% |
Social media is the top time wasting culprit, making up 35.27% of non-work related activities. Those working from home used up 12.04% of their wasted hours on social media. In-person workers use almost double that amount, with scrolling taking up 23.23% of their time wasted at work.
In close second place, the survey shows that workers overall spend 31% of time wasted at work internet browsing or shopping. Again, in-person employees take the edge with 19.91% of their wasted time spent browsing, while WFH workers use up just 11.09%.
Socialising is the third most common source of wasted work time, taking up 19.89% of non-work activities. Whether it’s small talk or gossip around the water cooler, in-person workers spend over 2.5 times more time socialising (14.32%) than their WFH counterparts (5.57%).
Both WFH and in-person workers admit to partaking in sexual activities on the clock, with sex taking up 6.49%of their overall time wasted. Sex takes up 5.09% of non-work activities for those working from home (approx. 3.4 minutes a week), but interestingly in-person workers spend 1.4% of their wasted time, or approx. 3.6 minutes a week, getting it on.
The full data set can be found here.
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