To wonder how long is acceptable to spend chatting during work?

[bestfakesmile]

Colleague complained about me the other day that I didn't spend enough time 'catching up' with the people I worked with first thing in the morning. I have more responsibility than them and had a very long list of things I had to get done that day, I did ask everybody if they'd had nice weekends etc and exchanged a few perfectly friendly sentences and then got on with my work. If I had spent longer talking to them then I would have had to stay longer at the end of the day.
How long do people spend in social chit chat at the beginning of the day in most workplaces?

I work in a tiny office. The boss spends the first hour chatting inanities. There is also a gobby, crass, nightmare of a woman, who can't go five minutes without screeching across the room. Mid-morning, Eeyore comes in and starts huffing and sighing for the rest of the day. I start a new job soon

I work in a small shop - so basically I'm paid to make small talk all day - no real contact with colleagues during a shift - other than the 2 min it takes to say "till is down by a pound for petty cash for milk...", so not any "catching up time" which suits me.

I keep "life" and work separate.

I don't think there is one answer for this as it totally depends on what you do, what your workplace is like etc. I manage quite a lot of people and actually most of my job is talking to people, building relationships and trust, and being a listening ear. None of us work in a 100% customer-facing role, and there are many times when I see colleagues chatting in a way that strengthens the team.

There's a separate issue of people who talk and talk and talk in an open plan or counter environment, either distracting others from working or just being irritating. But that's about their manner and work ethic.

If you have a list of tasks to do that doesn't involve talking to people and/or you're the sort of person who finds small talk or random conversation tricky (plenty of people like that about) then as long as you're polite I see no reason why you'd need to spend ages chatting. If that results in you getting excluded from social events, and you mind that, I'd talk to your manager about it if they are formal work events, or think about ways to join in if they're not.