If you’ve ever spent time at work counting down the seconds until it’s time to go home, you’re not alone.
According to a new survey from the staffing firm OfficeTeam, professionals admit to being bored at work an average of 10.5 hours per week. That means employees are bored for more than an entire workday during the week or for 68 days a year. Independent research firms polled 380 U.S. workers and 300 senior managers for the survey. Twenty-eight percent of managers said they think employees get bored because they “don’t feel challenged by assignments.”
And those managers may not be too far off in their assessment. Of the employees who responded to the survey, 28 percent said they don’t feel challenged by assignments, 23 percent said there isn’t enough work to do, 22 percent said the nature of their work isn’t interesting, 20 percent cited too many/poorly executed meetings and 7 percent said they don’t enjoy interacting with their coworkers.
“Let’s face it, the workday isn’t always filled with excitement. Managers can regularly check in with staff to ensure they’re engaged, but the onus is also on employees,” Brandi Britton, a district president for OfficeTeam, said in a press release.
But what exactly are employees doing when they’re bored and not working?
The survey found that other than browsing the internet and checking social media, employees were also creatively using their “downtime.”
Here are just a few of the things professionals admitted to doing when they got bored at work:
- Having rubber band battles with coworkers
- Making grocery lists and cutting coupons
- Learning another language
- Doodling
- Playing ping pong
- Paying bills
- Watching TV or movies online
- Playing online games
- Looking for other jobs
And on that last note, two out of five employees who responded to the survey said they’d probably quit their job if they got bored at work.
Read more stories from Alix Hines on Circa.