Stop faffing around and start doing some hard graft

We all complain about not having enough time in the day. I've often wished I could double the 24 hours to 48 just so that I could actually complete the multitude of tasks I have to do in a day. But according to recent research we actually have more time on our hands than we realise – three whole hours of it in fact. We just don't utilise it because we spend it 'faffing' around instead.

The study carried out by the United Kingdom's Skills Council found that the biggest time wasting activities include waiting for spouses, children or colleagues along with queueing, being stuck in a traffic jam, gossiping, shopping for non-essentials and being put on hold on the phone. And there's not even a mention of the hours we whittle away watching bad television or surfing the net for no reason in particular.

There's no doubt that productivity in the workplace does depend on an employee's ability to faff. While a star staff member can churn out endless projects without batting an eyelid, another less effective member of the team can waste hours making pointless phone calls, logging onto Facebook or loitering in the canteen gossiping with colleagues. They then tell you they haven't got enough time to complete project x and as a result project y will have to be put on the backburner. But with a little less strolling around the office and a bit more hard graft both projects could be completed well ahead of deadline.

Time management is key to the success of a business. The more effectively you and your team manage your schedule, the smoother the work flow and production levels will be. But what can you to do minimise faffing? After all some people are just born faffers – they even faff when they talk to you taking twice as long to tell you something because of their long winded style of conversation and dramatic gesticulations.

They say busy people achieve more than those with less on their plate. And, in my opinion, faffing can be reduced by putting more responsibility on someone's shoulders. The busier they are the less time they actually have to waste. In fact faffing is a luxury only afforded by those who really have the time to do it. In the survey, four out of five adults polled admitted wasting time and just under half estimated the amount as being up to three hours. That's a lot of misused hours.

And while there is little you can do about some faffing (traffic jams, being put on hold, waiting for business partners to turn up for meeting) there is a lot you can do to stop the rest. So the next time you want to moan about having no time, just remember those five cups of tea you had today and the 20 minutes you spent chatting to Leila from accounts every time you made a brew. It might just save you some time.