Many workers job-hunt on company time: survey

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A quarter of U.S. workers who use a
computer admit using it to hunt for a new job on company time,
according to a survey released on Wednesday.

Among workers who believe their Internet use is monitored
by their bosses, one-quarter use their work computer for
job-hunting, according to research conducted for professional
staffing company Hudson Highland Group Inc.

“It’s one of the ways employees deal with work-life balance
issues,” said Robert Morgan, chief operating officer at Hudson
Talent Management, one of the company’s divisions. “Because
we’re spending so much time at work, that’s the only time we
have to schedule some of those appointments.”

One-third of workers who think their managers are unaware
of their personal Web surfing use their work computer to find a
new job, according to the study.

Half of the workers surveyed said their companies monitor
their computer use, while three-quarters said they believe
their bosses know how much they use the Internet for nonwork
activities.

Job-hunters may not be overly concerned about what their
bosses know, Morgan said.

“Once they’ve made that decision to make a job change,
they’re probably less concerned about their current employer
finding out,” he said.

“What employers really need to focus their efforts on is
why are people looking for a job, versus trying to get them to
stop them from looking for it at work.”

Among managers, 24 percent admitted to job-hunting on their
work computer, the survey showed. Among nonmanagers, the figure
was 23 percent.

More than two-thirds of workers said they spend “hardly
any” time on personal e-mails, surfing the Web, in chat rooms
or blogging in a typical work day, it said.

One percent said they spend more than two hours a day at
work on such activities, it said.

The research was based on a nationwide poll of 2,694
workers conducted March 11-13. The margin of error was plus or
minus 3 percent.