what is idle time 
idle time is paid time that an employee or machine is unproductive due to factors that can either be controlled or uncontrolled by management it normally applies to full time workers rather than consultants who typically have to bill for every hour of their time understanding idle timeidle time is a period of time associated with employees waiting that may be because a piece of machinery they need to use isn t working they are waiting for an important shipment or the company is overstaffed and not everyone paid to be there has a task to do 