14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re at work right now and Bejeweled is running in the background, you should really stop hiding from your boss because you’re not the only one doing it.
A Microsoft-commissioned study has revealed that more than half of Australians play at work, mostly because of the smart devices surrounding them or that they are carrying in their pockets.
Conducted by Ipsos, the study included a representative sample of 1,027 Australians aged 18 to 65, revealing that 53 percent of the respondents play games, shop online or read news (thank you for that, by the way) during their work time.
At the same time, 82 percent of those participating in the study use a device to stay connected, with 76 percent of them relying of a smartphone for this task.
All these smart devices make Australians work more because 30 percent of the respondents claim that they also check work emails in their spare time.
Microsoft says that all these stats actually show that people use their devices for a wide array of activities, which is living proof that companies should continue investments in this regard.
"One of the most interesting things about these findings is the amazing array of activities people are doing on their devices," said Steven Miller, head of Microsoft Office division. "They work, play, talk, create, share, collaborate, research, watch, listen, they manage -- the list goes on."
"When you think about it, this is a significant departure from how we lived life in the very recent past, where people's activities were predictably tied to specific times and places and where they used specific devices for specific tasks."
Microsoft is one of the companies pushing for better phones and tablets, but the company’s sales in either industry are yet to skyrocket in large markets.