Few people are watching or checking, and few businesses do anything about time theft in their organizations-even though everyone knows it is both wrong and ubiquitous. The truth is you may be losing hundreds of thousands-if not millions-of dollars because of time theft. The typical employee steals about two hours of time each day, which means you're losing five hundred hours of work over fifty weeks. If an employee earns $20 per hour, that means he or she could be stealing $10,000 from you every year. Start hitting your projections, and keep your employees on task with this profit-building guidebook. You can learn how to reduce and even eliminate improper Internet usage, texting at work, and the transaction of personal business on company time. Time is money, and stealing it is no different than taking products or cash. Recognize the problem, and use simple and proven strategies to prevent and control Corporate Time Theft.

CORPORATE TIME THEFT

You Can't Afford to Ignore ItBy Grace Chandy Zen Tharani

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Grace Chandy and Zen Tharani
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-3300-4

Contents

Preface.............................................................vii1 Time Theft........................................................12 Internet Surfing Is Draining Your Bottom Line.....................63 Texting at Work...................................................154 Breaks Breaking the Bank..........................................195 Meetings: Less Is More............................................256 Workplace Ethical Standards.......................................317 Keeping Four I's on Time..........................................378 I Better Get Back To Work.........................................459 Loyal Employees...................................................4810 The Balance......................................................51About The Authors...................................................60Speaker Invitation..................................................62

Chapter One

Time Theft

Employees from all levels of an organization (from front line to executives) waste more than two hours a day at work, costing companies $750 billion a year, according to survey conducted by Salary.com and America online. Although it is not a pleasant topic to discuss, the fact is that Time Theft is costing organizations a lot of money. Workers at all levels will misuse company time at some point in their careers.

It is hard to believe that someone whom you hired to fill a trusted position in your company would actually steal from you. Nevertheless, it happens every day. In addition it is estimated that up to 75 percent of all employees' Time Theft is overlooked.

Time is money. Lost minutes result in lost dollars for businesses. In this economically challenged and competitive marketplace, every dollar counts, and every minute counts.

Survey conducted by AOL and Salary.com involved more than 10,000 respondents who indicated that there are many ways that they spend time at work doing non-work-related activities. Here are some figures from the survey:

Top Five Time-Wasting Activities

1. Surfing Internet (personal use) 44.7%

2. Socializing with co-workers 23.4%

3. Conducting personal business 6.8%

4. Spacing out 3.9%

5. Running errands off-premises 3.1%

Top Five Excuses for Time Wasting

1. Don't have enough work to do 33.2%

2. Underpaid for amount of work I do 23.4%

3. Co-workers distract me 14.7%

4. Not enough evening or weekend time 12.0%

5. Other 16.7%

Top Five Time-Wasting Industries

1. Insurance 2.5 hrs/day

2. Public Sector (Non-Education) 2.4 hrs/day

3. Research & Development 2.3 hrs/day

4. Education 2.2 hrs/day

5. Software & Internet 2.2 hrs/day

Although, theft is a harsh word, it is recognized by management as a significant problem. If employees take products or cash from an organization, it is considered theft. No one would argue with that. So why is it that when we talk about Time Theft—especially in this day and age when "time is money,"—we get this uncomfortable feeling? When time is money and money affects an organization's ability to make it or break it in this competitive world, then Time Theft is no different than product or cash theft. This is a simple concept, but like anything that pushes the boundaries of what we consider normal, it is surrounded by a great deal of discomfort.

Most experts would agree that reducing Time Theft is a much more realistic goal than eliminating it altogether. But in order to reduce time theft, business owners, management staff, and employees must recognize that the problem exists and must take an active role in preventing and controlling it.

Why Do Employees Steal Time?

People cite numerous reasons for stealing, but ultimately people steal time because they are given the opportunity to do so. When companies do not take an active role in implementing checks and balances to curb the occurrence of Time Theft, they create a fertile environment for it. When such an environment exists and all levels of employees are busy stealing time, a snowball effect is created, and Time Theft becomes part of the organizational culture.

Many employers write off losses due to Time Theft as a cost of doing business. "A certain amount of slacking off is already built into the salary structure," says Bill Coleman, senior vice president at Salary.com. But what employers might not realize is that workplace Time Theft can cost them their businesses if it isn't controlled. In August 1999 CNN Financial News reported that one out of every three companies that goes bankrupt each year does so as a result of employee theft, costing businesses between $60 billion and $120 billion a year. Although this article was referring to theft of equipment, products, supplies, etc.—imagine the cost to businesses when you add to this the losses due to time theft.

Time Theft is not confined to any one type of person or industry. The majority of executives we have talked to know that this is an issue in their company but have no idea about how prevalent and costly Time Theft really is. More importantly, they don't know how to deal with this problem.

What does this all mean to you, the business owner and an employee? Simply that you are losing hundreds and thousands of dollars every year. This stolen time translates into loss in productivity, revenue, and your competitive edge.

Setting New Boundaries

Today, Time Theft has become somewhat of a fringe benefit that employees enjoy at work. If you want your company to survive in this economically turbulent world, you need to build a culture of time-accountability. Creating a culture that respects time is vital to the success and survival of a company and it's employees.

You cannot change what you do not acknowledge. Life Lesson #4 by Dr. Phil McGraw

Chapter Two

Internet Surfing Is Draining Your Bottom Line

This century has brought forward an immense digital leap throughout the developed and developing worlds. Access to information and technology, particularly the Internet, has grown tremendously over the last decade. It is estimated by Internet World Stats (internetworldstats.com) that 30 percent of the world's population (approximately 2,095,006,005 people) has access to the Internet.

How Much Is The Internet Really Costing My Company?

"Surveying the Digital Future" a report published in 2003 by UCLA provides some insights into the increasing amount of Internet usage in the workplace for both work-related and personal purposes. The report also provides data on e-mail usage for both work-related and personal matters.

Below are excerpts of the study around Internet and e-mail usage at work:

• "Of those who had Internet access at work in 2002, 60.5 percent visited Web sites for personal use."

• "About 57 percent of those who use the Internet at work in 2002 accessed their personal e-mail from work ..."

Your Bottom Line Is Bleeding

If you are as committed to the success of your company as we are, you have already started to do some number crunching to figure out how much this personal use of Internet and e-mail is costing you on a yearly basis. But we'll make the analysis easier for you. Let's agree on some basic numbers before we provide you with the approximate costs your company is incurring due to personal Internet and e-mail use.

For the purposes of this quick analysis we'll assume the following:

• The employees in your organization make $40,000 per year.

• On average the employees in your company work 2,000 hours per year (i.e. 40 hours per week 50 weeks of the year).

• Based on the numbers above, on average an employee earns about $20 per hour.

• Each employee in your company has access to Internet and e-mail.

• On average, each employee spends approximately 2 hours per day on personal Internet and e-mail usage.

Based on the above numbers, one employee's time theft habits cost your company about $10,000 per year.

Here is the cost analysis

• 2 hours per day stolen

• 10 hours per week wasted (2 hours x 5 days)

• 500 hours wasted per year (10 hours per week x 50 weeks of work)

• $10,000 dollars lost per employee per year ($500 hours per year x $20 per hour)

Now imagine how the numbers add up when you have multiple employees in your company with the same time theft habits. For example, 10 employees with the same habits will cost your $100,000 per year. The cost increases to $1,000,000 per year if 100 employees in your organization are involved in similar non- work related activities every day.

Corporate Time Theft is here and is globally costing businesses billions of dollars every year. You will keep losing money unless you take strategic action to curb this theft problem.

Plugging the Internet Leak

Based on our experience, Internet and e-mail access at work are considered more of a necessity than a privilege nowadays. If your organization is anything like the organizations we have worked with, not using the Internet and e-mail is not an option. But that does not mean that access to these necessities cannot be monitored or controlled to yield a more productive workforce. If your organization is responsible to its investors, just imagine their reaction if they were to realize the losses due to Time Theft. Think of the taxpayer dollars lost due to this Time Theft in a government organization. However you look at it, your organization is taking a big financial hit due to this.

So what are some remedies to this problem? Here is a short list of initiatives you can undertake:

• Information is power: Share the Time Theft statistics with your employees. It will provide a constant subconscious reminder every time they reach out to log on to Facebook®, shop for shoes, or catch up on the latest entertainment gossip.

• Policy it: Create standardized Internet and e-mail usage policies for all your employees to sign so that you can take action when these privileges are abused. Remember to refresh your employees' memories about these policies on a regular basis.

• Designate time on company dime: Set aside a controlled amount of time that your employees can use the Internet and e-mail for personal purposes.

• Strike a team: Get your employees and senior management involved in collaborating to design solutions to the problem of Time Theft. This will ensure that there is buy-in at every level. Imagine the new culture you can create within your organization by leading this change.

Time Theft due to personal Internet and e-mail use is not an issue that can be ignored. Acknowledging this issue is important in order to work towards controlling the magnitude of the problem.

Time For Change

In addition to the tangible and intangible costs, there is a significant degree of risk and liability associated with the increased time employees spend online.

With the amount of personal activities, surfing of pornographic sites, and other non-work-related activities taking place, it is time to face this workplace pandemic head on. The alternative to dealing with this issue is to turn a blind eye to continuous Time Theft and letting your organization experience the ever-growing risk of a slow bankruptcy due to lost productivity and revenue.

Internet abuse is a new and evolving problem that management has never seen or experienced before. Therefore, in order to deal with this problem, a good balance of existing and outside-the-box solutions is required. Throughout this book we have provided various solutions and ideas to combat Time Theft. This chapter provides additional solutions that may assist in the new campaign against Time Theft due to non-work related Internet usage.

Internet Usage Policies

In order to make clear what employees are permitted and not permitted to do when spending time online, organizations need to create policies and educate their employees about these policies. Aside from Time Theft, Internet usage makes organizations vulnerable to legal liabilities, ever-increasing costs for providing Internet access, threat of data loss through unauthorized access (hacking), and more.

A good Internet usage policy should cover the following items:

• The expectation that company assets such as computers, bandwidth, etc. are to be used for business purposes only

• A list of the types of Web sites (and in some cases specific Web sites) that are either blocked and/or are not permitted to be accessed

• Strictly defined prohibitions for downloading and transmitting material protected by copyright and other laws

• The consequences of Internet misuse

• Details regarding employer access to employee e-mail, Internet usage history, files, usage audits, etc.

Employees should be advised that they should not expect their communications or use of the employer's computer information systems to be confidential or private; and the organization should have every employee sign and agree to the Internet usage policy for the term of their employment. You may be thinking that your organization already does this. You're right, many organizations already have policies in place. The question is how many organizations actively enforce these policies?

Internet Workshops

One of the best and most effective ways to ensure Time Theft is controlled within an organization is to get the whole organization to take ownership of the problem. The only sustainable way this can be done is to educate the workforce on the negative effects of Time Theft due to Internet misuse. Furthermore, the organization's workforce should be involved in the creation, implementation, and monitoring of solutions.

Internet workshops are an effective way of educating employees on the effects of Internet misuse. These workshops can be used to ensure that there is complete buy-in from the employees by involving them in identifying solutions and setting operational strategies that all employees can take ownership of.

Internet workshops are also incredibly helpful in introducing new policies and codes of conducts, and in sharing information on how these policies will be implemented. Presenting employees with reports and data on the before and after scenarios will help with the critical task of getting them to see the benefits of the policies and of controlled Internet use.

Another good strategy to ensure compliance and adherence to new policies is to provide direct monetary benefits. For example, if an organization is losing a million dollars a year through Time Theft, and the implementation of certain strategies will save the company a million dollars per year, then offer to distribute up 50 percent of these savings to all employees on an annual basis for a certain number of years. This will ensure that the misuse of Internet and the accumulation of costs through Time Theft become linked directly to loss of potential income for each employee. Furthermore, this will ensure that self-monitoring and self-regulation of Internet use will come into effect right away. Of course the organization will need to ensure there are mechanisms in place to measure the changes. The good thing is that there are strategies and tools out there that can help a company with this.

R U WRKN? I M L8 LOL C U L8R

Chapter Three

Texting at Work

The face of Time Theft is changing quickly. Text messaging has become part of our daily communication. Life is getting busier by the day consequently we are all getting too busy to talk to each other, so we text instead. It is also becoming a common mechanism at work to communicate with our colleagues, clients, etc. But just like Internet usage, people are spending a lot of time at work texting for personal purposes. At the end of the day, texting at work for personal purposes on the work dime is just another way of stealing time. If it wasn't stealing, then we wouldn't think, "I hope no one sees me texting" while we text away at work.

Some experts estimate that up to half of office workers spend more time texting and e-mailing than actually working. This, according to some, is attributed to achieving a better work-life balance. In the United Kingdom, this flavour of cyber-socializing costs employers about £761 million each year.

Stealing from the workplace is more common than you might think. In fact, you have probably knowingly or unknowingly stolen from work. But there is a lot that can be done to prevent such theft.

The solution to minimize such Time Theft issues can be as simple as instituting a well-documented cell phone and text messaging policy derived with collaboration between management and staff; management should follow up on this policy by calling a staff meeting to communicate the policy to employees as something that they have played an integral part in creating. An even better approach is to sit down with each staff member individually and review the policy carefully, making sure that each member of the team fully understands the policy and the consequences of violating it.

Formalizing policies to curb such work distractions is a crucial part of ensuring that your employees understand the culture of the organization. A collaborative approach at the work place will also help in changing the culture of the organization in the long run.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from CORPORATE TIME THEFTby Grace Chandy Zen Tharani Copyright © 2012 by Grace Chandy and Zen Tharani. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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