by Erik Van Tongerloo

Created on: October 06, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2009

Most managers are aware several employees waste their time at work. Dealing with such employees is often a difficult task if they don't succeed in getting their work done during the working hours. A good manager will take the necessary precautions to control their actions and will blame them if the waste of time will result in a loss of productivity.

There is always a valid reason why people waste their time at work and often they are not satisfied with their job. It is possible they may not have a chance of promotion, the demands are too high, their salary is too low or they want more variation in their job. It is clear that employees who waste their time at work are not motivated and need a boost to perform better.

If an employee is not performing to expectation, a good manager will interact to help increase motivation. It's probable a manager will not give a sanction if employees make a short private phone call during working hours or send an email which is not work related if they restrict this time to a minimum and it doesn't damage the efficiency of your work.

Here are some ways people waste their time at work:

*Surfing Internet sites for personal use

The Internet has changed our lives and people use this new technology for many purposes. It is an important source of information for your business but employees search often information for personal use which has nothing to do with your work. It is possible they search online shopping sites and compare prices for something they want to buy, download MP3's for personal use, play games, visit chatting rooms or several other sites which may pleasure them more than spending their time for the work they have to do.

*Talking

It is obvious that every employee talks with his/her colleagues about work issues. Talking too much about personal things will damage the atmosphere at work and will have a negative impact on the productivity of the company. A manager will not complain if you talk from time to time about non work related items but talking for more than one half an hour without any productivity is a popular manner of wasting your time at work.

*Personal phone calls

Employees are most of their time at work and they can spend a lot of time in making phone calls for personal use. They can make phone calls for many reasons, for example inviting someone to dinner, a consult by the doctor, booking a travel, talking with friends and waste a lot of time during their working hours.

*Taking longer lunch breaks than allowed

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