Bayt.com, the Middle East's number one job site, has released the results of an online poll exploring people's behaviour in the workplace. The results showed that employees in the region spend increasing amounts of time browsing the Internet, many of them looking for other job opportunities. Conducted on the Bayt.com homepage throughout October, the poll attracted over 4,000 respondents, who answered four basic questions regarding their workplace habits. When asked what they where doing when they weren't being productive at work, almost 50 per cent of respondents said they were looking for another job, while 24.5 per cent spent their time browsing the Internet.
This figure increased when the question was put another way: "What is your biggest bad habit in the workplace?" Some 48.6 per cent said browsing the Internet and chatting while 18 per cent announced they take too many coffee and cigarette breaks. Skipping office to do personal work only amounted to 12.8 per cent of the total poll votes. Encouragingly, 52.5 per cent of respondents reported that their favourite part of the work day was working on important projects, while 16.7 per cent said it made their day if they met with clients.
A further 14.4 per cent enjoyed team meetings. Surprisingly, lunch hour only garnered 8.6 per cent of the votes for workers' favourite part of the day. "Inaccessible decision-makers" was the main frustration, with around 26 per cent of those polled citing it as a pet peeve, while bosses' demands made after office hours came in at second place with 23.6 per cent. Another 17.2 per cent complained about slow Internet access and other IT-related issues. "Employee engagement is a growing challenge in this region, and business leaders need to pay close attention to the needs of their most valuable assets," said Rabea Ataya, CEO, Bayt.com. "The results of this poll show that employees want to be challenged and engaged at work, which is the good news. But the poll also indicates that people won't hesitate to look for alternative employment, often on company time, if they are dissatisfied."
