An Olympic Waste of Time and Money

Solution providers are always looking for a business problem to solve using IT and it looks like the Olympics may deliver this one this year. A survey of 350 workers conducted by SpectorSoft, a provider of Internet monitoring software, finds that over a third of the people surveyed plan to watch the Olympics at work.

Whether they are doing that because of the time zone difference between where they are and Olympics in London, the fact that the Olympics take place over 11 working days or simply because they can't get enough of sports, is anybody's guess. But SpectorSoft is betting that there will be plenty of less than pleased business owners that might want to hear more about tools that will help them determine if anybody in their organization has actually been working at any given point and time.

•  

  

  The Number of People Planning on Following the Olympics on TV69.4% of US employees confirmed that they will be following the Olympics on TV.

•  

  

  The Number of People Planning on Watching Olympics from Work37.9% also reported that they plan to watch the Olympics during work hours.

•  

  

  The Number Devoting Two or More Hours a Day to Watching Olympics at Work37% of employees said they felt that it was acceptable to devote 2 hours or more of their workday to watching the Olympics.

•  

  

  Males versus FemaleMore men (73.6%) than women (64.8%) plan on watching the Olympics.

•  

  

  The More They Make the More They WatchOf those only making $25K or less, only 48.3% are planning to follow the Olympics. This percentage increases with income, with 81.2% of those making $75-100K planning to follow and 100% of those making $200K and above.

•  

  

  The More Educated They Are the More They WatchThe Olympics will be followed by 50% of those with "No College", increasing with education, and peaking at 80% of those selecting "Professional Degree" as their education level.

•  

  

  Age Doesn't Make Much DifferenceThe percentage of those planning to follow the Olympics didn't fluctuate much based on age, staying within a range of 68.8-69.8%, with the exception of those in the 18-24 age group, where the interest jumps to 74.1%.

•  

  

  Does Your Employer Have Policies Against Using a Work Issued Computer for Non-Work Related Activities?59.8 percent said no, 31.5 % said yes; 8.7% said they didn't know.

•  

  

  Does the Company Policy have an Actual Impact?Only people intent on watching for more than 2 hours daily are significantly affected by either the uncertainty of the company policy or the knowledge of the existence of one.