Americans who feel bored and underpaid do work hard -- at surfing the Internet and catching¹ up on gossip², according to a survey that found U.S. workers waste about 20 percent of their working day.

An online survey of 2,057 employees by online compensation³ company Salary.com found about six in every 10 workers admit to wasting time at work with the average employee wasting 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour working day.

Personal Internet use topped the list as the leading time-wasting activity according to 34 percent of respondents, with 20.3 percent then listing socializing with co-workers and 17 percent conducting personal business as taking up time.

The reasons why people wasted time were varied⁴ with nearly 18 percent of respondents questioned by e-mail in June and July said boredom⁵ and not having enough to do was the main reason.

The second most popular reason for wasting time was having too long hours (13.9 percent), being underpaid (11.8 percent), and a lack of challenging work (11.1 percent).

While the amount of time wasted at work seems high, Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com. said the numbers have improved, with the amount of time wasted dropping 19 percent since Salary.com conducted its first annual survey on slacking⁶ at work in 2005. Then workers reported wasting 2.09 hours of their working day.

"I think (the decline) is really a result of the economy and that there's more business, more work available and less time tosit around wondering what you are going to do with your day," Coleman told reporters.

厌倦工作、又觉得薪金太低的美国人把时间都浪费到了上网和闲聊上。一项调查发现，美国人浪费了约20%的上班时间。

该项由在线薪酬公司Salary.com网站开展的在线调查共有2057名雇员参与。调查发现，每10名员工中约有6人承认自己在上班时浪费了时间。在一个典型的8.5小时工作日中，一般员工会浪费1.7个小时。

上网是第一大浪费上班时间的活动，有34%的受访者利用上班时间上网；20.3%的受访者在上班时与同事闲聊；17%的人处理私人事务。

人们在上班时做其它事情的原因各不相同。在6月和7月的电子邮件受访者中，近18%的人称这样做的主要原因是无聊和没事可做。

第二大原因是工作时间太长（13.9%）；其次是薪资太低（11.8%）和工作缺乏挑战（11.1%）。

尽管看起来被浪费的上班时间很多，但Salary.com网站的薪资主管比尔·柯尔曼说，从具体数字 上看，情况还是有所改观。自从2005年Salary.com网站首次开展此项一年一度的调查以来，被浪费的上班时间数下降了19%。当时员工一个工作日 浪费的时间为2.09小时。

科尔曼在接受记者采访时说：“我认为这是经济发展的结果。公司业务更多、需要处理的事情更多，员工们已没有多余的时间去考虑如何打发时间了。”