More and more Australians are using Wifi and browsing at work in order to avoid paying more for the Internet.The rather disturbing office ethics was justified by the idea that stealing Wifi not as bad as stealing stationary from the office.

A survey by Telco Optus found that Australians spend five weeks a year using an Internet connection set up by the employer. Apart from that, Aussies also use Wi-Fi whenever possible (This may be with or without the knowledge that prolonged use of Wi-Fi can drain batteries on smartphones!) Nonetheless, respondents to the survey also said they used their friend's phone and Internet connection as well - a double whammy!

When most employees exceed their data limits on their smartphones, their so-called "addiction pang" for more data makes them go after options like misusing a friend's phone or using employer Internet. According to the statistics found by Optus, sixty percent of Aussies who used their own phones had concerns about their data privileges from their carrier, while another 33 percent were concerned they would get 'bill shocked' when the bill arrived.

The Australian appetite for using more MBs stems from the fact they consume large amount Facebook information. There have been several reports recently outing the use of social networking during work hours and its effect on productivity and disruption of reaching maintained targets and responsibilities at the job.

Personal files were downloaded 37% of the time, according to the survey. Yet another activity among Australian employees that caused them to leech from their employers was printing maps to navigate without using their smartphones - that accounted for another 33 percent.

In a personal assessment of the questions asked, more than half of those surveyed said they wanted their employers to pay for their Internet - that is full time workers. This was in reference to an allowance for personal use of Internet connections. Another 46 percent said it is nowhere near as bad as taking stationery from the cupboard for personal use," Computer World.com reported.

In addition to that, another 45 percent admitted to using a work-phone for their personal use and 31percent said they use their work device as a professional hotspot. These are temporary wifi connections used to connect to their personal devices.