In a survey of 10,000 employees, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per day, not counting lunch. The number one way they waste time at work is personal Internet use (e.g., email, IM, online polls, interactive games, message boards, chat rooms, etc.). Personal Internet use was cited by 44 percent of respondents as their primary time-wasting activity at work. Socializing with co-workers was the second most popular form of wasting time at work (23 percent of respondents). Conducting personal business, "spacing out," running errands, and making personal phone calls were other popular time-wasting activities in the workplace.

But are workers really expected to work non-stop eight hours a day? According to a follow-up survey of corporate human resource managers, employers actually expect the average employee to waste about an hour per day, in addition to the worker's lunch hour.

"A certain amount of slacking off is already built into the salary structure," according to Bill Coleman, senior vice president at Salary.com. "Our survey results show that workers on average are wasting a little more than twice what their employers expect. That's a startling figure. Although in some cases this extra wasted time might be considered 'creative waste' -- time that may well have a positive impact on the company's culture, work environment, and even business results. Personal Internet use and casual office conversations often turn into new business ideas or suggestions for gaining operating efficiencies."

Samara Jaffe, director of careers/AOL Find a Job, agreed. "Today, there are so many useful tools and Web sites on the Internet that have enabled people to become more efficient with accomplishing multiple tasks in a shorter amount of time."

But the survey also gave workers an opportunity to explain their "time-wasting" activities, and a whopping 33 percent said "don't have enough work to do." In addition, 23 percent of respondents said they waste time because they are "underpaid for the amount of work I do."

Another interesting statistic gathered from the survey is how many hours an employee fritters away based on their year of birth. The younger the employee, the more time wasted, the survey shows. Those 56 and older wasted only 30 minutes a day, whereas those 25 and younger wasted 1.95 hours per day.

Other findings include time wasted per person, per day by state and industry:

Top Time-Wasting States
States	Time-Wasted(a)
1.  Missouri	3.2 hrs/day
2.  Indiana	2.8 hrs/day
3.  Kentucky	2.8 hrs/day
4.  Wisconsin	2.8 hrs/day
5.  Nevada	2.7 hrs/day
6.  Oklahoma	2.7 hrs/day
7.  Virginia	2.7 hrs/day
8.  Pennsylvania	2.6 hrs/day
9.  Connecticut	2.5 hrs/day
10. Idaho	2.5 hrs/day

Top Time-Wasting Industries
Industries	Time-Wasted(a)
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
6.  Specialized Trades	2.1 hrs/day
7.  Automotive (Non-Manufacturing)	2.1 hrs/day
8.  Retail	2.1 hrs/day
9.  Marketing & Communications	2.0 hrs/day
10. Finance & Banking	1.8 hrs/day

(a)   Average hours wasted -- per person, per day.