Do you surf the Net at work?

If you're on the job, and you're reading this story, you should probably get back to work.

The average worker wastes more than two hours a day, and that's not including lunch, according to a new Web survey by America Online and Salary.com.

That means companies spend as much as $759 billion on salaries annually for which they receive no apparent benefit, according to the research by Needham, Massachusetts-based Salary.com.

The survey found the top excuses for wasting time were that workers said they didn't have enough work or were underpaid for the amount of work they do. About 10,000 people responded to the poll.

More than 44 per cent said the No. 1 way they waste time at work is personal Internet use, like reading e-mail, instant messages, playing interactive games and responding to online polls.

The second most popular, according to 23 per cent of respondents, was socialising with co-workers. Other excuses included conducting personal business, spacing out, running errands and making personal phone calls.

Employers expect that workers will waste some time on the job, about an hour per day in addition to the lunch hour.

"Our survey results show that workers on average are wasting a little more than twice what their employers expect. That's a startling figure," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president at Salary.com.

He noted that some of the wasted time could be considered helpful, however, as conversations and personal Internet use can lead to new business ideas.