The Carefree Lives Of Slackers

Not All Americans Are Working Hard To Get Ahead

(CBS) 
The word "slacker" originated during World War I, used to describe draft-dodgers in particular and work-dodgers in general. It was later applied to all manner of counterculture movements. Lutz also found plenty of examples on-screen, many illustrating the essential slacker paradox: we like the idea of slacking, but do we really want to do nothing?

For some people, the ultimate slacker is Spicoli, in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." But the new movie "Clerks 2" gives us slackers who are on the job, and that creates a whole new set of issues.

Workplace slacking is all very funny in the movies, but what about in real life? By some estimates, American employees may be idling away something on the order of $750 billion a year in lost productivity.

Mark Murphy is the CEO of Leadership IQ, advising companies how to improve their management. In a survey, his firm found that 87 percent of employees say they get so tired of working with slackers, it makes them want to change jobs.

If a slacker were just one slacker off doing their thing and they were checking out to go surfing at two o'clock every day, that'd be one thing," Murphy says. "The problem is that a whole continuum suffers from this. The customer suffers from this. The rest of the team suffers from this. The high performers are forced to work even harder to make up for the work of the slacker that the slacker didn't get done."

Even the average American worker admits to frittering away just over 2 hours per 8-hour workday. Top time-wasting activities are surfing the Internet, socializing with coworkers and conducting personal business. Workers' top excuses are that they don't have enough to do or they think they're underpaid.

But whatever the reason, even Murphy admits everyone needs to slack a little.

"You know, people can only work so hard for so long. Even the Navy SEALS need R&R every so often. We can only push so hard before we start to get burned out. So it's OK to take the break. It's OK to recharge," he says.