Gen-Zs are unsurprisingly the biggest culprits
B2B comparison site, Expert Market, investigated the time people spend using their smartphone devices against their annual earnings to gauge how much productivity British businesses are losing out on because of distracted staff. The average British worker will spend 276 minutes per week using their mobile by which equates to nearly one hour of every working day.
When calculated in relation to the average salary, this would mean UK employers are paying out over £3,000 per year to every employee for time spent on their phones.
Unsurprisingly, 16-24 year-olds or ‘Generation Z’ emerged as the most addicted, spending a staggering 745 minutes or 12 hours a week engrossed in their small screen, nearly three times more than any other age group. Workers in this age group were even shown to dedicate more time to their phones than the average worker would spend doing work related activities such as researching and gathering data (six hours) or preparing documents (eight hours). On average, employers are paying out over £4,000 per year per staff member in this age group whilst they are occupied by their smartphones.
Michael Horrocks from Expert Market commented on the findings: “These figures show just how much smartphones have permeated every part of our lives. Phones have become a permanent attachment for most people and I am sure that many of us are not even aware of how often we look at our mobiles during a working day.”
On average, employers are paying out over £4,000 per year per staff member in this age group whilst they are occupied by their smartphones.
“Of course, banning smartphones in the workplace would definitely send a negative message” Horrocks continues, “but perhaps highlighting the amount of minutes we lose to our screens could make people just a little more aware of the time they are wasting. Suggesting that getting back that time and using it to be productive could mean leaving the office earlier would be a positive incentive most people would be on board with!”
