Economics
That Property Boom Could Be the Reason Employees Are Goofing Off
- Price gains lead to shirking in workplace, academic says
- Online shopping during office hours rife in peak hours
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A property market boom could lead to employees being more distracted at work as they spend extra time shopping online, and show up late or leave early, a study showed.
A 5 percent monthly gain in real-estate prices caused an 8 percent rise in shirking behavior, according to a study by the National University of Singapore Business School using data on three Chinese cities and credit-card information. About 60 percent of home-owning employees saw “an increase in their propensity” to attend to personal matters during work hours, and such behavior was more prominent among those with multiple properties, it said.