Employers beware: Staff cheating on their spouses isn't just a private matter. It's likely hurting your bottom line as well, a new survey has found.
Cheating hearts devote a significant number of work hours to looking for love in the wrong places – on average around 1.17 hours a day – and it may be costing employers around $17 million a day, according to infidelity website Victoria Milan's survey of its 4,000 members.
(Read more: Cheating App: Dangerous Liaisons Get Less Risky)
Around 68 percent of the participants said they interact online with their affair during work hours, using their computer or smartphone, while 25 percent made time at home, it said.
Among those cruising while at work, 38 percent said they spent about a half-hour being untrue, 25 percent spent around an hour a day on two-timing, another 19 percent spent as much as 90 minutes stepping out and 18 percent strayed from work for more than two hours a day, the survey found.
"Many of our members connect with each other during work hours to spice up their life," said Sigurd Vedal, the website's founder said in a statement. "We just hope they do it while they are on break, because if not, companies may be losing a lot of money."
(Read more: Adultery website makes aggressive push in Asia)
Based on the U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and the number of members Victoria Milan has globally, the website provides a low-ball estimate that adultery costs employers around $17 million dollars a day.
Competing infidelity site Ashley Madison has said that its busiest day is, without fail, Monday morning as spouses who've had their weekend hopes of marital bliss dashed — or seen an excessive spike in their marital aggravation levels — turn to a discreet affair to fill the void.
—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1
