Research released on Sunday has revealed that every UAE-based office employee spends an average of 46 days out of their working year on non-work related activities.
The survey by The Office Exhibition showed that despite putting in long hours, UAE office workers still managed to grab some personal time during the working day, whether on social networking websites, surfing the net, gossiping with colleagues, or making tea.
The survey polled more than 1,000 office workers across the UAE also revealed 150 million cups of tea are made by office workers in the UAE every year, with each person spending almost four and a half working days making them.
The results also showed that office workers in the region spent on average nearly seven working days a year chatting to colleagues.
Some 62 percent of companies have an IT policy relating to social media and personal Internet usage which is adhered to, but 33 percent either have a policy that is ignored, or do not have a policy at all, the survey added.
Online banking and paying bills was a popular in-work-time activity, the poll added, with each office worker spending 11 days a year doing it; in addition to six days a year spent online at work researching and booking holidays.
Sinead Bridgett, show director, The Office Exhibition said: “It’s well known that people in the UAE spend long hours in the office, but our survey has uncovered some fascinating facts about what actually happens during the working day. Whilst email now dominates official communications, people still want to spend time chatting with colleagues about non-work related issues.
“The majority of companies have IT policies in place regarding social networking and internet use, but almost a third do not, and this is something we would encourage them to look at as a significant number of days a year are spent on these activities at work.”
The Office Exhibition is due to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from February 9-11, and will feature 250 companies.
