The truth is out of office for some employees.
As workers increasingly resist the 40-hour work week, some of them even bend the facts to get their time back.
A new report from online resume builder Kickresume, which surveyed nearly 2,000 employees worldwide, found that only 18% of them work the full 7-8 hours expected of them — unbeknownst to their managers.
Instead, nearly 60% of employees surveyed admitted they’re not fully honest on their timesheets. Most (44%) said they round up every now and then; 12% said they sometimes stretch the truth a little bit. A much smaller group (3%) said they regularly over-report their hours.
Disengaged employees contributed to an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity in 2024, per Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report.
There’s also a generational divide when it comes to lying about hours worked, according to Kickresume’s research.
Related: Gen Z Is Changing the Workplace — Here Are 4 Trends Employers Can’t Ignore
Gen Z employees were the most likely to admit to rounding up (49%) and stretching the truth (13%). Thirty-five percent of Gen Z workers claimed perfect honesty in timesheet reporting.
Gen X employees, on the other hand, were most likely (46%) to claim total honesty when filling out their timesheets; 40% admitted to rounding up occasionally.
Millennial workers came in close behind for claims of complete honesty at 43%, and 42% admitted to rounding up their hours from time to time.
Related: This Is the Biggest Lie People Put on Their Resume
Additionally, Gen X and millennial employees reported being equally likely (12%) to sometimes stretch the truth on their hours.
Across all generations, just 7% of employees said they never take any unofficial breaks during the work day, per Kickresume’s research.
Among the majority of workers who do give themselves some leeway, coffee or snack breaks emerged as the most popular way to spend time away from work (58%), the survey found.
The truth is out of office for some employees.
As workers increasingly resist the 40-hour work week, some of them even bend the facts to get their time back.
A new report from online resume builder Kickresume, which surveyed nearly 2,000 employees worldwide, found that only 18% of them work the full 7-8 hours expected of them — unbeknownst to their managers.
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