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Tittle tattle lost the battle

As businesses look to tightent the collective belts, it is estimated that office chatting is costing employers over £2bn a year

It is revealed that the majority of Brits spend 67 minutes every day talking about unrelated topics during work time, costing their employers over £2bn a year. Recruitment agency review site, HireScores.com found that of those surveyed, more than half, 52 percent, admitted to talking about the previous night's TV during office chats, whilst a third, 34 percent, said that their love life was the main topic of conversation.

When asked, "How much time do you estimate you spend talking about unrelated issues at work, every day?", HireScores.com found that the average time was 67 minutes, with eight percent confessing to spending three hours or more a day chatting to colleagues at work.

Of those that admitted talking at work, a third, 34 percent, said that they didn't think that it affected their performance, with more than half, 52 percent, of these saying that they would often work whilst discussing unrelated topics. 23 percenty said that they would only chat depending on who was in the room, with four eighths, 79 percent, saying that they would never talk about unrelated issues in front of their boss.

The top ten topics that people talk about in the office:

1.      Television - 52 percent

2.      Weekend plans - 49 percent

3.      Food - 46 percent

4.      Sport - 43 percent

5.      Previous evening - 41 percent

6.      Colleagues - 37 percent

7.      Friends - 35 percent

8.      Love life - 34 percent

9.      Music - 31 percent

10.      Holidays - 29 percent

The average UK salary is £23,472 per year, or £489 per week which means that the hourly wage is £13.04. Based on this figure, and the fact that the average amount of time spent procrastinating at work is 67 minutes according to the study, the average British employee will cost their company £14.56 each day, or £72.80 for each five day week. There are currently 28.79m employed people in the UK meaning that over £2bn is lost each year due to office chatter.

5 July 2010