Korean workers thought to slack off for 80 mins of work day: survey

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Human resource managers at major companies in Korea think their workers spend approximately 17 percent of their working hours, around 80 minutes, on other activities, a survey showed on Monday.

According to the survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation, human resource managers of the largest 100 companies by sales rated their office workers’ productivity at an average of 82.7 out of 100.

The survey revealed that HR managers think their office workers spend an average of around 1 hour and 20 minutes of their 8-hour workday on personal activities, including slacking off, smoking, surfing the internet and socializing.

As such, 93.9 percent of HR managers believed that there was room for their employees to be more engaged in work-related tasks.

However, more than half, 54 percent, of HR managers said their companies don't really manage or respond to workers engaging in personal activities during work hours. Of the survey's respondents, 38 percent said their companies "manage only visible aspects (of workers' productivity) such as frequent absences," and 16 percent said their companies "barely manage productivity due to resistance from employees." In contrast, only 26 percent said their companies "actively manage productivity through computer activity checks."

“Through this survey, it was found that there is an urgent need to improve labor productivity by managing employees' personal activities, such as by preventing workers from slacking off," said Ha Sang-woo, head of the KEF's economic research division.

By Lee Jaeeun(jenn@heraldcorp.com)