Our company actually encourages our staff to read insurance journal and posts links to these articles on our intranet. It is one of the ways we support development of insurance professionalism as well as creating a more-informed staff. Being better informed has allowed us to be more proactive in several key areas: regulatory compliance, agency relationshipts and I.T. initiatives.
…and I’m sure the time spent putting this article together is the reasons the insurance industry got boosted to the top. You don’t see the Public Sector distributing articles about how lazy they are, do you?
How does one define “wasted time”? Insurance/Reinsurance is very much a people business and, to be successful, requires up to date knowledge of who is where and who’s doing what. Does this necessarily mean that chatting to colleagues in the smoking group (one of the best sources of info’) is a waste of time? Similarly, wine bar meetings and reading webzines etc are ways of keeping oneself informed and can even lead to new business and/or new markets and solutions.
Like all surveys, they can be totally meaningless.
I think that like any study this must be taken with a grain of salt. I agree that reading the IJ is an important tool and should be encourage. I also agree that networking with coworkers and colleagues is a good way to develop ideas and business. Then, of course, there is that time spent shopping on the Internet, e-mailing friends, talking on the phone that could be put to better use.
Isn’t anyone else appalled that in this day and age, women are percieved negatively in the work place vis a vis men? We’re “wasting time”; I gues fantasy sports is “team building”
agree with you Beth – what was noted was HR managers suspected women wasted more time than men. No concrete evidence, just a guess. Why even publish such a thing?
Actually, the study found that 44% of the wasted time was due to internet surfing for personal reasons. Socializing with co-workers was second at 23%. They also found a major cause to be lack of work provided by the employer.
This wasted time adds up quickly. We estimate that if these figures are correct, our office is paying roughly $80,000 to $110,000 a year in payroll just for time that is wasted.
I agree with Jarana that it is appalling to say, let alone, publish a gender based comparison without any data to back it up. I just ignore comments like that and focus on the facts, not the suspicions of some HR managers.
Steve,
You have the luxury of ignoring suspicions – they’re not suspecting you of wasting more time than your co-workers. Gender discrimination is based on what HR managers “suspect”. Promotions and raises go to the people who are not “suspecious”.
I am, among many things (commercial lines manager, operations manager, payroll ‘clerk’, etc.), the HR manager for the agency, which has a staff of approximately 75 AND am female. Having spent 30 years in the insurance business, I can tell you that while you can certainly find the female staff (CSRs, Technicians, support staff, etc.) chatting or visiting on a personal level sometimes, they are also the ones that carry the brunt of the workload when it comes to marketing renewals and new business, endorsing policies, billing both, issuing certificates, taking phone calls from clients, reporting claims, etc. There is possibly 1-2 (out of 15) producers in this office that even knows how to do anything on the computer except ’email’. I realize they may bring those clients in so the rest of us have jobs but if the rest of us weren’t here AND doing a good job busting our chops, there would be no renewals. My hats off to all those ladies on the ‘front and back lines’!
I read the article in my local newspaper, and the time wasting activity was internet surfing, and not about work related internet viewings such as the Insurance Journal. The respondents actually admitted that the activity was a time waster.
As for the women being the bigger abusers, it stands to reason that is correct. Most internet surfing is related to shopping, and women love to shop and spend their man’s money. So, of course they are wasting the most time!
If you rely on AOL users for your information that explains the accuracy.
Time studies have been done in the insurance industry and believe me they have every minute accounted for.
I think I “waste” significantly more time than that in a given workday. But, I still get paid the same as if I busted my *** and brought in $10,000 commission accounts daily, so why should I work harder?
Jane, you are right. I am ashamed that I forgot about the men browsing/porn factor in all of this.
I will try to right this error by stopping on my way home and buying my pregnant wife some shoes.
Good boy. And she’ll once again neglect to mention out loud how grateful she is that at least your wallet compensates for your under-average endowments otherwise.
Had an “assistant” a few years ago. This woman spent at least four hours each and every day on personal phone calls. She would snarl at me or go running to the boss complaining when I asked her when she would be able to finish a task I’d given her. She missed over 40 days of work one year. Boss did not bat an eye.
I think the greater picture has been lost in these enlightened debates. No one is going to work for a solid eight to ten hours a day. Surfing the net, wasting time, however you want to look at it, is a means by which people can relieve the stress and monotony of the work day. So, I bought a pair of shoes on line! Who cares?!?
we should be like european countries and scale back our work week. of course you have to waste a little time to meet quota. i find that if i have less time i use it more effectively. with at least 8 hours a day one is bound to slack off a little. as far as men v. women, i think we are all guilty.
Where I work, everyone using the internet is under the microscope, not just women; our HR managers are women and the bulk of our workload is carried by women and our female managers are very tough on their female reports; this is not a gender based judgement but rather just reality. In addition, we went from a 36 hour week to 37.75, in order to get more productivity from our staff. Our standards are developed in response to the Ward’s study, so if we are wasting time, it is in comparison with our peers. But it is truly amazing how the comments that came out in the ensuing “debate” spiraled down to name calling; and the irresponsible sexist attitudes which were revealed demonstrate the lack of accountability that is found mostly in the public sector. Yes, chauvanism may still be alive in the board room but not in the trenches because it is counter productive. These are the things I was thinking of when I read the article; If we are wasting time reading insurance journal, it sure isn’t reflected in the numbers.
I can’t tell you the amount of time I have just ‘wasted’ reading these comments. I was laughing out loud right here at my desk – thanks guys! I’m told that laughing boosts one’s immunity which results in less sick time and greater productivity. It’s a win/win situation for my company.
Let’s get real guys. We can take a look around our company and see that certain people are inclined to act a certain way. This has less to do with a person’s race, creed, color, or gender and more to do with how a person was raised, social and economic factors, different cultures, etc.
I am a black female who is a bit of a social butterfly. I am more WAY more interested in articles like this rather than who A.M. Best is downgrading/upgrading, who got promoted at ABC Mutual, or what the overseas market is up to.
Is this because I’m black? Is it because I’m female? I don’t think so. It’s way more complicated than that. I am a black woman who has more in common with George Castanza than I do with Condoleeza Rice. I bet ya’ didn’t think I watched Seinfeld, did ya?
In short, get over yourselves. Be who you are and if you hear a comment that doesn’t sit well with you, SHOW people how you’re different. Getting angry, resorting to name calling, hurling insults – life is too short.
It is ironic that HR Managers “suspect” women waste more time that men. As someone pointed out, most HR managers are women. As for HR managers, has anyone ever met one (man or woman) who actully did any real work? Most are glorified clerks who enjoy putting people down. I even had one HR manager tell she “really didn’t like to deal with people but the job paid well”. Since HR managers waste a lot of time and most of them are women, it makes sense that they “suspect” or more accurately, “admit” that women waste time.
First of all: Thank You, Amazed! Your comments made me laugh nearly as much as a Seinfeld episode – now, you are one smart lady! Let me know next time you add a comment to ANY thread about ANY topic! Most days I need a good laugh, a little entertainment and a whole lot of insight!
Second: Amazed’s comment was wonderful but even more funny is the amount of time that has been wasted on a study about ‘wasting time’…aren’t human beings wonderful?!
To Good Girl: What a shame that your interaction with HR has been a negative experience and shame on those HR people who have “put you down”.
As far as HR people doing any real work, I can only speak for myself in saying that I work very hard in handling the day to day issues that come up in my organization. There are days when I don’t get any “work” done until after 5:00 when those who you talk about as doing real work have already gone home. Those are the days when I spend time mediating between employees, handling situations for managers, holding the hand of an of the employees who is going through a health issue or has something going on at home.
I hope I perform those functions of my job with compassion and caring, and that it fosters a feeling within my organization that people have somewhere to turn when they need help.
I don’t believe that I’ve ever put anyone down, because I try to treat everyone with respect.
And the “real work” that I do involves administering payroll, health benefits, disability claims, etc…and in case you didn’t know, HR is usually the place where tasks go that nobody else wants to do.
As a 50 year veteran of the insurance business, there is nothing new about wasting time at the office. When I started this business in 1955, the “bull pen” office set up was the norm and as such, it was difficult to waste time with idle chatter, as everyone was in plain sight of the office manager. Then came the office cubicle. With low walls, it was easier to waste time than with the bull pen, but when the “high wall cubicle” was introduced, it created a perfect hiding place for what I term the “travelling goof off”. This was a person that went from one “friendly” cubicle to another, unobserved and cleverly wasting their own time and effectively “stopping work” of the other party while supposedly “talking business”. These skilled goof offs could kill a half work day and pretend to be busy the entire time. I say “tear down those walls”, and revert to the old bull pen. I can assure you a “lot of bull” will cease and workers will become a great deal more productive. I’ll leave the gender out of it, as both sexes are guilty. One observation is correct however, older workers who have been around a while have learned this behavior doesn’t enhance a positive career path. Too bad management has such a prejudice against older workers and force them into retirement which is what happened in my case. Luckily I found a better more satisfying job after I was forced out at age 60. Old coots can still offer something more than greenhorn goof offs, given the chance, even if the greenhorns have MBA’s.
In all seriousness, I don’t believe this story. Sure people goof off somewhat each day, but to declare 25 to 30% of the time is wasted cannot be right. All business have standards and income to staff ratios. Any prudent business owner would be measuring the productivity of their staff and remain in the guidelines. Certainly, wasting this much time would raise a large flag. My guess is this survey stretched the responses so they would get great coverage for the story; and they did. Look at all the fun this board had over the past week!
Let’s be a little reastic about HR managers. Initially they were developed as a counter to the burgeoning union movement in the earlier part of the century. They were intended to “represent” the line workers.
They are anything but that now. Most corporations use them as henchman and ways to weed out more expensive workers. Few have any concept of the true cost and time needed to develop an employee and are more than happy to blindly go out and cut workers anytime expenses need to be cut. They then are unable to grasp the lost revenue potential.
As most HR managers do when confronted with what pathetic creatures they are we get the canned speech about how hard you work and how productive you are.
In any revenue generating organization you are nothing more than an expense and a puppet for high level management. By definition you can never be prodcutive since you are an expense. The clue should be when you leave for vacation for a week and come back and the organization functioned fine without you. In fact they may have done better without you than with you. Just a thought
If you are reading this, you are guilty.
Our company actually encourages our staff to read insurance journal and posts links to these articles on our intranet. It is one of the ways we support development of insurance professionalism as well as creating a more-informed staff. Being better informed has allowed us to be more proactive in several key areas: regulatory compliance, agency relationshipts and I.T. initiatives.
…and I’m sure the time spent putting this article together is the reasons the insurance industry got boosted to the top. You don’t see the Public Sector distributing articles about how lazy they are, do you?
Just put down my GameBoy DS to read this article…..
How does one define “wasted time”? Insurance/Reinsurance is very much a people business and, to be successful, requires up to date knowledge of who is where and who’s doing what. Does this necessarily mean that chatting to colleagues in the smoking group (one of the best sources of info’) is a waste of time? Similarly, wine bar meetings and reading webzines etc are ways of keeping oneself informed and can even lead to new business and/or new markets and solutions.
Like all surveys, they can be totally meaningless.
p.s It is 18.30hrs in London.
I think that like any study this must be taken with a grain of salt. I agree that reading the IJ is an important tool and should be encourage. I also agree that networking with coworkers and colleagues is a good way to develop ideas and business. Then, of course, there is that time spent shopping on the Internet, e-mailing friends, talking on the phone that could be put to better use.
Isn’t anyone else appalled that in this day and age, women are percieved negatively in the work place vis a vis men? We’re “wasting time”; I gues fantasy sports is “team building”
agree with you Beth – what was noted was HR managers suspected women wasted more time than men. No concrete evidence, just a guess. Why even publish such a thing?
Actually, the study found that 44% of the wasted time was due to internet surfing for personal reasons. Socializing with co-workers was second at 23%. They also found a major cause to be lack of work provided by the employer.
This wasted time adds up quickly. We estimate that if these figures are correct, our office is paying roughly $80,000 to $110,000 a year in payroll just for time that is wasted.
It’s because men are a little teste.
I agree with Jarana that it is appalling to say, let alone, publish a gender based comparison without any data to back it up. I just ignore comments like that and focus on the facts, not the suspicions of some HR managers.
Steve,
You have the luxury of ignoring suspicions – they’re not suspecting you of wasting more time than your co-workers. Gender discrimination is based on what HR managers “suspect”. Promotions and raises go to the people who are not “suspecious”.
I’m curious…How many of those “suspicious” managers are female themselves? Personally, every company I’ve worked for has had a female HR manager.
I am, among many things (commercial lines manager, operations manager, payroll ‘clerk’, etc.), the HR manager for the agency, which has a staff of approximately 75 AND am female. Having spent 30 years in the insurance business, I can tell you that while you can certainly find the female staff (CSRs, Technicians, support staff, etc.) chatting or visiting on a personal level sometimes, they are also the ones that carry the brunt of the workload when it comes to marketing renewals and new business, endorsing policies, billing both, issuing certificates, taking phone calls from clients, reporting claims, etc. There is possibly 1-2 (out of 15) producers in this office that even knows how to do anything on the computer except ’email’. I realize they may bring those clients in so the rest of us have jobs but if the rest of us weren’t here AND doing a good job busting our chops, there would be no renewals. My hats off to all those ladies on the ‘front and back lines’!
I read the article in my local newspaper, and the time wasting activity was internet surfing, and not about work related internet viewings such as the Insurance Journal. The respondents actually admitted that the activity was a time waster.
As for the women being the bigger abusers, it stands to reason that is correct. Most internet surfing is related to shopping, and women love to shop and spend their man’s money. So, of course they are wasting the most time!
If you rely on AOL users for your information that explains the accuracy.
Time studies have been done in the insurance industry and believe me they have every minute accounted for.
I think I “waste” significantly more time than that in a given workday. But, I still get paid the same as if I busted my *** and brought in $10,000 commission accounts daily, so why should I work harder?
Jane, you are right. I am ashamed that I forgot about the men browsing/porn factor in all of this.
I will try to right this error by stopping on my way home and buying my pregnant wife some shoes.
Good boy. And she’ll once again neglect to mention out loud how grateful she is that at least your wallet compensates for your under-average endowments otherwise.
Strongly agree that older workers waste less time, however not sure same can be stated about older men.
Also, believe managers waste more time than workers, especially male managers.
Seems female managers work the hardest.
Had an “assistant” a few years ago. This woman spent at least four hours each and every day on personal phone calls. She would snarl at me or go running to the boss complaining when I asked her when she would be able to finish a task I’d given her. She missed over 40 days of work one year. Boss did not bat an eye.
What was your boss’s name? Bill? Was your assistant by any chance Monica?
I think the greater picture has been lost in these enlightened debates. No one is going to work for a solid eight to ten hours a day. Surfing the net, wasting time, however you want to look at it, is a means by which people can relieve the stress and monotony of the work day. So, I bought a pair of shoes on line! Who cares?!?
we should be like european countries and scale back our work week. of course you have to waste a little time to meet quota. i find that if i have less time i use it more effectively. with at least 8 hours a day one is bound to slack off a little. as far as men v. women, i think we are all guilty.
Where I work, everyone using the internet is under the microscope, not just women; our HR managers are women and the bulk of our workload is carried by women and our female managers are very tough on their female reports; this is not a gender based judgement but rather just reality. In addition, we went from a 36 hour week to 37.75, in order to get more productivity from our staff. Our standards are developed in response to the Ward’s study, so if we are wasting time, it is in comparison with our peers. But it is truly amazing how the comments that came out in the ensuing “debate” spiraled down to name calling; and the irresponsible sexist attitudes which were revealed demonstrate the lack of accountability that is found mostly in the public sector. Yes, chauvanism may still be alive in the board room but not in the trenches because it is counter productive. These are the things I was thinking of when I read the article; If we are wasting time reading insurance journal, it sure isn’t reflected in the numbers.
I can’t tell you the amount of time I have just ‘wasted’ reading these comments. I was laughing out loud right here at my desk – thanks guys! I’m told that laughing boosts one’s immunity which results in less sick time and greater productivity. It’s a win/win situation for my company.
Let’s get real guys. We can take a look around our company and see that certain people are inclined to act a certain way. This has less to do with a person’s race, creed, color, or gender and more to do with how a person was raised, social and economic factors, different cultures, etc.
I am a black female who is a bit of a social butterfly. I am more WAY more interested in articles like this rather than who A.M. Best is downgrading/upgrading, who got promoted at ABC Mutual, or what the overseas market is up to.
Is this because I’m black? Is it because I’m female? I don’t think so. It’s way more complicated than that. I am a black woman who has more in common with George Castanza than I do with Condoleeza Rice. I bet ya’ didn’t think I watched Seinfeld, did ya?
In short, get over yourselves. Be who you are and if you hear a comment that doesn’t sit well with you, SHOW people how you’re different. Getting angry, resorting to name calling, hurling insults – life is too short.
I gotta get back to work….
It is ironic that HR Managers “suspect” women waste more time that men. As someone pointed out, most HR managers are women. As for HR managers, has anyone ever met one (man or woman) who actully did any real work? Most are glorified clerks who enjoy putting people down. I even had one HR manager tell she “really didn’t like to deal with people but the job paid well”. Since HR managers waste a lot of time and most of them are women, it makes sense that they “suspect” or more accurately, “admit” that women waste time.
Girlfriend,
Did you read my comments?
Everybody, all together:
We are the world.
We are the children.
We are the ones to make a brighter day…
Am I the only one who was bit by the ‘Happy Bug’ this morning?
GET OVER YOURSELVES!!
First of all: Thank You, Amazed! Your comments made me laugh nearly as much as a Seinfeld episode – now, you are one smart lady! Let me know next time you add a comment to ANY thread about ANY topic! Most days I need a good laugh, a little entertainment and a whole lot of insight!
Second: Amazed’s comment was wonderful but even more funny is the amount of time that has been wasted on a study about ‘wasting time’…aren’t human beings wonderful?!
You sound hot! Do you have a gorgeous body and face to go with that fantastic wit and attitude? Please post a picture.
To Good Girl: What a shame that your interaction with HR has been a negative experience and shame on those HR people who have “put you down”.
As far as HR people doing any real work, I can only speak for myself in saying that I work very hard in handling the day to day issues that come up in my organization. There are days when I don’t get any “work” done until after 5:00 when those who you talk about as doing real work have already gone home. Those are the days when I spend time mediating between employees, handling situations for managers, holding the hand of an of the employees who is going through a health issue or has something going on at home.
I hope I perform those functions of my job with compassion and caring, and that it fosters a feeling within my organization that people have somewhere to turn when they need help.
I don’t believe that I’ve ever put anyone down, because I try to treat everyone with respect.
And the “real work” that I do involves administering payroll, health benefits, disability claims, etc…and in case you didn’t know, HR is usually the place where tasks go that nobody else wants to do.
As a 50 year veteran of the insurance business, there is nothing new about wasting time at the office. When I started this business in 1955, the “bull pen” office set up was the norm and as such, it was difficult to waste time with idle chatter, as everyone was in plain sight of the office manager. Then came the office cubicle. With low walls, it was easier to waste time than with the bull pen, but when the “high wall cubicle” was introduced, it created a perfect hiding place for what I term the “travelling goof off”. This was a person that went from one “friendly” cubicle to another, unobserved and cleverly wasting their own time and effectively “stopping work” of the other party while supposedly “talking business”. These skilled goof offs could kill a half work day and pretend to be busy the entire time. I say “tear down those walls”, and revert to the old bull pen. I can assure you a “lot of bull” will cease and workers will become a great deal more productive. I’ll leave the gender out of it, as both sexes are guilty. One observation is correct however, older workers who have been around a while have learned this behavior doesn’t enhance a positive career path. Too bad management has such a prejudice against older workers and force them into retirement which is what happened in my case. Luckily I found a better more satisfying job after I was forced out at age 60. Old coots can still offer something more than greenhorn goof offs, given the chance, even if the greenhorns have MBA’s.
You have all been wasting valuable work time. YOU’RE ALL FIRED!
In all seriousness, I don’t believe this story. Sure people goof off somewhat each day, but to declare 25 to 30% of the time is wasted cannot be right. All business have standards and income to staff ratios. Any prudent business owner would be measuring the productivity of their staff and remain in the guidelines. Certainly, wasting this much time would raise a large flag. My guess is this survey stretched the responses so they would get great coverage for the story; and they did. Look at all the fun this board had over the past week!
Let’s be a little reastic about HR managers. Initially they were developed as a counter to the burgeoning union movement in the earlier part of the century. They were intended to “represent” the line workers.
They are anything but that now. Most corporations use them as henchman and ways to weed out more expensive workers. Few have any concept of the true cost and time needed to develop an employee and are more than happy to blindly go out and cut workers anytime expenses need to be cut. They then are unable to grasp the lost revenue potential.
As most HR managers do when confronted with what pathetic creatures they are we get the canned speech about how hard you work and how productive you are.
In any revenue generating organization you are nothing more than an expense and a puppet for high level management. By definition you can never be prodcutive since you are an expense. The clue should be when you leave for vacation for a week and come back and the organization functioned fine without you. In fact they may have done better without you than with you. Just a thought