Yahoo Finance One in five UK workers spend more than half their day skiving
The average amount of time that workers spend not working is just over 5 hours per week, or 37 days per year, a survey has found.
But one in five workers admitted to spending over half their time at work – that’s 20 hours per week – not lifting a finger.
Those missing work hours leaves a £294bn hole in the UK economy, according the research by Casino Kings.
READ MORE: The 10 UK cities with the laziest workers
It appears that most UK workers have the skill of not working at work pretty nailed down, but what exactly are they doing when they are not grafting?
The modern world is full of enticing distractions, whether it be from social media, friends constantly messaging or simply a good old natter about what they did at the weekend with their colleagues.
YouTube is by far the favourite activity of the average workplace skiver, with 19% of workers spending over an hour per day watching videos while at work.
READ MORE: Why we should be "coasting" at work
Other things that employees like to do to kill an hour in the office every day is to make hot drinks, have idle chit-chat, browse Instagram and smoke or vape.
It’s not only at their desks that workers see the opportunity to skive. Employees admitted to taking unnecessary toilet breaks when they want to check Facebook, message a friend or to simply skive off work.
In fact, nearly one in five employees like a nice break of over 30 minutes per day at the water closet, while most workers choose to spend between 5 and 10 minutes sitting on the toilet when they shouldn’t be.
READ MORE: Nine signs you're slacking off at work
Every single employee surveyed admitted to skiving at the toilet at some point during an average workday.
But what do workers like to do when they are skiving at the toilet? Well, 8% said it was simply to get away from their colleagues, but most had a specific thing in mind once they entered the safe space of the lavatory, free from annoying work colleagues and overzealous bosses.
Social media was far and away the preferred choice of worker toilet skive activities. A huge 61% said they regularly check Facebook while killing time in the toilet, followed by Instagram and checking in with friends on WhatsApp.
READ MORE: The top 20 ways Britons slack off at work
Another 12% of employees like to fill their unnecessary toilet breaks with mobile games such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.
