Survey reveals Australia’s biggest procrastinators

A survey released today by Yellow Pages has revealed Australia is a nation of procrastinators, with 53% of respondents admitting they put off jobs at home or at work.

According to the survey, 69% of Australians are more likely to procrastinate at home than work, with household chores (67%), DIY (36%) and cleaning (35%) the tasks we avoid doing the most.

More than a third of survey respondents (36%) also admit to procrastinating at work. Completing tasks associated with a specific job role (13%), administration (8%) and maintaining a clean workplace (8%) are the things they avoid doing.

Males and females share similar attitudes to procrastination, with 52% of men indicating they procrastinate, compared to 54% of women. However, men are more likely to procrastinate at work, and women are more likely to procrastinate at home.

Residents in NSW (55%), Western Australia (54%) and Queensland (53%) are the nation’s biggest procrastinators. Alternatively, Tasmanians are the least likely to procrastinate and prefer to solve their problems straight away.

Paying bills (VIC, QLD, WA); gardening and mowing (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA, TAS) vacuuming (SA), dusting (WA and SA) and doing the dishes at home (VIC and TAS) are among the list of things Australians procrastinate about the most.

To help Australians solve their procrastination problems, and ‘tick’ things off their ‘to do’ list, Yellow Pages has released an updated iPhone and iPad app.

The Yellow Pages App has more than 1.4 million local businesses listings, and a number of new and improved features including:

- Opening hours indicator in the search results;
- Native map integration;
- Pull down on search results to view businesses servicing the area;
- Customised popular searches on the home screen;
- Options to refine results, such as “sort by distance from me”;
- Integration with native address book for ‘Add to Contacts’ and sharing business information; and
- Users can contact an advertiser from search results via email or call by website click with their iPhone.

Mr Evan Ravensdale, Yellow Pages Group Product Manager, said the App will make it easy for Australians to find solutions to the problems they procrastinate over the most.

“Now, there’s no excuse for Australians to put off those jobs they don’t like doing, or don’t know how to do. The improved Yellow Pages App provides solutions for every problem, no matter how big or small it is.”

A full list of the Yellow Pages App features are listed at www.yellowpages.com.au.

The free app is available for download at https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/yellow-pages-australia/id325629947?mt=8



NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The survey was conducted by OMD Insights and utilised a sample size of 1029 across Australia (excluding the Northern Territory), QLD N=181, NSW N=309, TAS N=100, VIC N=231, SA N=104, WA N=104. The survey was completed by males and females aged 21-54. Results cover: use of digital devices, leniency per state and by gender regarding tendency to procrastinate and tasks most likely to be procrastinated. Results available for publication.