Employees spend more than 14 hours a month “social not-working”

We spend more than 14 hours a month, or 40 minutes of our working day, “social not-working”, according to new research from AXA. Employees use up on average around five and a half days of the working year sending text messages, emailing friends and family, visiting social net-working websites, making personal phone calls, and gossiping, the new study reveals.

Add other activities, such as online shopping, booking holidays and even gambling at their desks to the equation and employees are spending more than 50 minutes every single day on non-work related activities.

The research comes ahead of the launch of AXA’s My Budget Day (21 November), a national programme designed to encourage all UK adults to commit one hour a month to sorting out their finances. As UK employees suffer a serious lack of motivation when it comes to spending time addressing their money matters, AXA is asking employers to help their employees kick start the programme by giving them the first hour while they are at work. The initiative is being supported by the CBI and the UK’s largest union, Unite, and AXA has pledged the hour to its 12,000 UK employees.

AXA’s research shows that just one hour a month spent reviewing your money can improve finances and reduce stress dramatically. Worryingly one in three people don’t do anything at all whilst the average person spends only 22 minutes per month considering their finances.

The research found that Londoners are most guilty of spending time “social not-working”. They spend more time than any other region emailing friends and family, looking at social networking sites and making personal phone calls. However, when it comes to gossiping in the office, employees in the North West spend 13 minutes a day compared to people in the South East and East Anglia who spend less than 10 minutes a day chatting to colleagues. Scots spend the most time texting, and those in the Midlands are most likely to indulge in online shopping while at work.

Pat Brady, AXA said; “We all have to start taking greater responsibility for the financial state of the nation and employers can play a really important role. With employees already spending some time on non-work related activities, giving them official time to take part needn’t result in a hit on productivity. In fact, we have seen through our pilot, that employees are actually more motivated as a result of this initiative.

“A lack of motivation to deal with financial matters is arguably at the heart of our country’s enormous personal debt problem. If employers can help people to recognise the value of spending time reviewing their finances it could go some way to addressing this.”

David Fleming, Unite National Officer, commented, "This initiative is providing employees with an opportunity to help tackle a great cause of stress in the workplace - financial worries. Unite welcomes this scheme as a positive step in addressing the widespread issue of financial exclusion. Allowing employees to spend just one hour reviewing their finances demonstrates a commitment to corporate and social responsibility."

AXA, who is already offering its 12,000 employees a free hour to do some financial planning in the workplace is encouraging other businesses to do the same. It has set up a dedicated “Information for Businesses” section on the My Budget Day website (axa.co.uk/mybudgetday) which provides all the details an employer needs to roll out a financial education programme in their workplace.