Press release

Misuse of office technology adds more than two hours to the average British working day

• Study by ntl:Telewest Business shows that email and telephone habits can reduce productivity rather than increase it and men are the biggest timewasters at work

22nd May 2006. The misuse of telephones and email at work is hindering workers from doing their jobs, increasing bad habits at work and lengthening the working day according to a national study released by ntl:Telewest Business today.

Highlighted in the research was the over-reliance on voicemail when returning or making phone calls, having to wait for people to call you back before you get the answer you require. Similarly, a delay caused by having to wait for emails to be answered with relevant information was another area that increased time wastage each day.

Two hours, 10 minutes was the amount that people wasted each day at work on average, of which one hour 38 minutes was due to communication technologies not being used to good effect.

Men are the biggest timewasters when it comes to non-work activities. When asked to admit what they were really doing while they were working, the key findings were (men first, women second):

• Emailing with friends: 39% compared to 36%
• Following sport online: 19% compared to 4%
• Arranging social life: 29% compared to 21%
• Online shopping: 21% compared to 14%

Of 1,468 people questioned, the average time spent each day waiting for or chasing responses to urgent emails and on unnecessary emails was 42 minutes. An average of 27 minutes was wasted responding to voicemails or managing phone calls and 12 minutes was lost trying to locate colleagues.

Stephen Beynon, MD, ntl:Telewest Business, said: “Communications tools that once contributed significantly to productivity have started to become a drain on it. That means employees can be faced with working longer hours unnecessarily. Many bad habits, such as ‘voicemail tag’, are inevitable but using more appropriate communications tools can cure much of the timewasting.”

“Often the root of reduced productivity is that you don’t know where people are, be it in a meeting, at another location or away off site. New communication services with instant messaging features are changing this, as they can identify instantly what an individual is doing and enable the ‘caller’ to communicate with them in the most appropriate way. New services will aim to iron out the productivity blips that hamper organisations today and save employees from wasting time at work.” he said.

According to the study, other average times wasted each day were:

• Travel not including to and from work: 14 minutes
• Chasing responses to urgent emails: 42 minutes
• Responding to voicemails or managing phone calls: 27 minutes
• Trying to locate colleagues: 12 minutes
• Meetings that are unnecessarily long: 12 minutes
• Asking others for files or documents (e.g. version control): 9 minutes
• Scheduling and rescheduling meetings: 8 minutes
• Conference calls that could be far shorter: 6 minutes

About ntl:Telewest Business

ntl:Telewest Business, part of the UK’s second largest fixed-line telecommunications company, is a leading communications provider to businesses, public sector organisations and service providers in the UK. It delivers a complete portfolio of voice, data and internet solutions nation-wide.

ntl:Telewest Business sales and support teams are located across the UK, in close proximity to our customers, as part of a commitment to deliver superior customer service.

ntl:Telewest Business delivers services over the Group’s £13bn investment  in its state-of-the-art infrastructure giving business customers access to the largest alternative network in the UK.

ntl:Telewest Business is trusted to provide critical communications to high profile customers including: Heathrow's Terminal 5, Birmingham City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.

For further information go to http://www.ntltelewestbusiness.co.uk/

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