High cost of slacking

ANSWERING that friend request while at work may not seem troublesome, but add up all the on-the-job smartphone screen time across the US and you’re talking $19 billion in lost productivity, a new study reveals.

The average American office employee is spending about five hours a week on his or her mobile phone on things that have nothing to do with the job, such as answering personal e-mail, doing online shopping and watching the highlights of last night’s baseball game, according to the study, conducted for the staffing firm OfficeTeam.

“If these numbers were true for every full-time worker in the US, that would add up to $US15.5 billion ($19.4 billion) in lost productivity every week,” the study’s authors said.

Some 600 workers and senior office managers were questioned at US companies with 20 or more employees.