Working from home: Brits confess to sleeping on the job

Binging on Netflix (37%), sleeping on the job (25%) and household chores (24%) are what Brits working from home are actually doing instead of their day job, according to new research.

With 8/10 Brits working from home over a third of those staff members confess they are getting away with working fewer hours then they should be according to a recent survey.

Key findings:

1 in 10 Brits (9.6%) claim not to miss anything about the office
More than a third of Brits are working a lot less in terms of hours now they’re working from home (37%)
3% of Brits admitted “I am not working at all and getting away with it”
Over a third of Brits (36%) hail the people the most missed thing about going into work closely followed by small talk (32%) & getting ready in the morning (28%)

The survey, conducted by business card printing firm, instantprint, asked 1,000 British workers questions about their productivity and motivation levels whilst working from home. The results revealed that over a third of respondents are actually watching Netflix (37%) sleeping mid-shift (25%) and doing housework (24%) in place of work with 3% of respondents claiming to be doing no work at all and getting away with it.

TOP 10 THINGS BRITS ARE DOING INSTEAD OF WORK

With line managers nowhere to be seen, it would appear the temptation to procrastinate is too great for workers to resist. Here are the top ten things your teammates have self-confessed to getting up to instead of completing work:

Watch films / Netflix / TV – 36.7%
Nap – 24.8%
Household chores – 24.4%
Walk the dog – 21.6%
Do online surveys – 19.6%
Go outside for a walk – 16.4%
Catch up with friends and family – 11.0%
Run errands (like pop to the shops) – 9.2%
Cook or bake – 8.8%
Home workouts – 6.0%

Top 10 MOST MISSED THINGS ABOUT BEING AT WORK

Although over a third of brits have admitted to working less, it appears that workers are missing some aspects of their working environment. Here are the top ten things respondents claim to be missing from their workplace:

The people – 36%
Small talk – 32%
Getting ready in the morning – 28%
Having different work and home clothes – 25%
The general office environment – 25%
Moving around more – 21%
General chit chat / human interaction – 19%
That Friday feeling – 17%
Travel time – The walk to the office/to the station (bus or car) – 15%
Having an excuse not to do chores on a lunchtime – 14%

On keeping employees engaged with their workplace, Head of instantprint Jon Constantine-Smith said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown up lots of challenges for businesses and for lots of people working from home is one of them. A majority of people are working harder than ever but it is clear that some are taking advantage of their employers by doing less than normal or in some cases nothing at all.

“Despite our entire office team working remotely, we have managed our people in the same way. We have retained our previous KPIs and maintained nearly all reporting so we are monitoring staff performance closely. We have continued to set our team’s objectives and milestones and discussed them in daily check-ins to ensure everything in on track as well as giving us a forum to discuss challenges and how we can overcome them.”