Shirk and skive, thirty-five!

The traditional bingo call for the number 35 could have a new challenger for the 21st century, as the classic “jump and jive!” might be better replaced with “shirk and skive!” instead.

With mobile technology becoming increasingly sophisticated, and more people able to log on to their favourite online casino wherever they may be, one mobile casino, slots and bingo provider claims a sizable proportion of the British workforce are wasting hours of their working lives on games of chance.

More than half of working Brits surveyed by Fortune Frenzy admitted they log on to mobile games while at the office – and while they might see it as time well spent, the mobile casino operator estimates the total cost to the UK economy at around £355 million.

Just 9% of people now ignore their mobile phones completely during the working day, while 57% (well done if you just thought ‘Heinz varieties’…!) check their phones at least once every ten minutes.

This obsession with mobile technology means 53% of all Brits play games via their phones when they are supposed to be working, at an average of an hour per week spent on games when they should be doing their jobs.

Graham Brown, product manager at Fortune Frenzy, says: “The British workforce has always been partial to a good skive. With the wealth of different games and apps available it unfortunately naturally follows that people are whiling away the minutes by playing games on their mobile during working hours.”

However, Britons’ love of a good game of bingo might not be all bad for their employers – and in fact, if your workforce are among those most active on mobile gaming sites, social network apps and other fun distractions, there’s a good chance you’ve got some talented individuals on your team.

In 2011, communications and collaboration software provider PGi blogged about “the importance of play in the new workplace”, stressing that ‘gamification’ is not just about having fun, but doubles as an important marketing tool, just as it has done in radio and television phone-in competitions and other such contests for generations; and this applies to the workplace too.

“Today’s top talent – especially the younger generations – choose companies that foster creative, fun and interactive cultures,” wrote PGi’s Blakely Thomas-Aguilar in November 2011.

Fortune Frenzy’s findings seem to support this claim, and while productivity may take a hit during that hour each week in which employees are gaming, it’s worth looking at the week as a whole to see how much morale – and associated employee output – you might actually be gaining.