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Sponge baths and hypnotism: The strangest productivity killers at work

WASHINGTON — How do you kill time at the office?

If you text, surf the web or use social media, you’re not alone.

Surprisingly, if you take a sponge bath, you’re also not alone.

A new CareerBuilder survey explores the most common — and the most bizarre — ways that employees waste time at the office.

Here are the most common productivity killers:

  1. Cell phones/texting: 52 percent
  2. The Internet: 44 percent
  3. Gossip: 37 percent
  4. Social media: 36 percent
  5. Email: 31 percent
  6. Co-workers dropping by: 27 percent
  7. Meetings: 26 percent
  8. Smoke breaks/snack breaks: 27 percent
  9. Noisy co-workers: 17 percent
  10. Sitting in a cubicle: 10 percent

The survey also broke down the strangest activities on the job:

  • Employee was taking a sponge bath in the bathroom sink.
  • Employee was trying to hypnotize other employees to stop their smoking habits.
  • Employee was visiting a tanning bed in lieu of making deliveries.
  • Employee was looking for a mail order bride.
  • Employee was playing a video game on their cell phone while sitting in a bathroom stall.
  • Employee was drinking vodka while watching Netflix.
  • Employee was sabotaging another employee’s car tires.
  • Employee was sleeping on the CEO’s couch.
  • Employee was writing negative posts about the company on social media.
  • Employee was sending inappropriate pictures to other employees.
  • Employee was searching Google images for “cute kittens.”
  • Employee was making a model plane.
  • Employee was flying drones around the office.
  • Employee was printing pictures of animals, naming them after employees and hanging them in the work area.

Nearly 3 in 4 employers have taken at least one step to offset the productivity killers.

Check out the full survey results here.

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