NZ companies lose money by the minute

The average kiwi employee could be costing their employer more than $14,000 per year in time spent on personal business.

This is the message from Edward O’Leary, Director of New Zealand designed and operated time management software company Abtrac.

“The sluggish economic recovery and the yet to be determined impact of the devastating  Christchurch earthquake means more and more New Zealand companies are looking for any opportunity to try and improve their profit margins. 

“Our economy needs to be productive and employees must be aware of the importance of their work output and the significant loss of revenue that unproductive company time can have.

“The issue stems from employees lacking the understanding of their exact cost to their employer and in many cases not knowing how or being concerned enough to manage their time,” says O’Leary.

“If you consider that on average an employee can waste an hour per day chatting around the office or quietly organising their personal calendar, placing a few bids in an online auction and updating social media it quickly becomes apparent how an average of five hours per week is lost.”

After more that twenty years consulting to hundreds of companies in New Zealand and Australia O’Leary has seen a substantial increase in the loss of productivity, especially over the past five years.

He puts it down to the rise in online shopping and social networking. Personal phone calls, text messaging, non-work related internet searches and personal emails all contribute to varying degrees. “They all combine to negatively impact the productive potential of your typical New Zealand office, at a time when the country needs everyone at their best.

“Many companies we assess are shocked by the reports of time wastage due to a staff member text messaging or browsing social media – in some cases up to two hours per day or a cost to the company of $600 per week per employee,” he explains.

O’Leary attributes this loss to a lack of restrictions in most workplaces around general socialising and increasingly web browsing, particularly on sites such as Google, Facebook and YouTube and online shopping such as TradeMe.

International Data Corp recently released research stating that 60% of all online purchases are made during working hours. A survey by American company Burst Media showed over a quarter of workers say that work hours are the best time to conduct personal activities online.

O’Leary recommends focusing on educating staff about their worth and contribution to the organisation.

“We often find once we make people aware of the importance and cost of their work significant improvements are registered. It is all about striking a balance, providing staff options such as open access to personal internet and phone during their lunch and not “locking” them out completely.

“Equally by placing limited restrictions on certain internet sites, monitoring emails and letting staff know that their productivity is being evaluated will have an effect.”