With social media and other forms of Internet usage being integral to our daily recruiting and sourcing work lives, it got me to thinking about workers’ personal use of the Internet in the workplace in 2010. While an issue for over 15 years, it seems that Internet abuse on company time has reached epidemic proportions, yet employee productivity has gone through the roof. It’s increasingly harder to make sense of Internet access at work and getting the most from your employees.
Consider a trio of recent studies done by a web-monitoring firm, an anti-virus company and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Cyclope-Series, which produces computer monitoring software, found that 24% of employees spend more than one hour on social networks during working hours and are checking personal email up to 5 times per day. Interestingly, you’d think that the study would be biased since the company is selling productivity software to employers but the employees in the study knew they’d be monitored and even signed agreements permitting the recorded activity.
Trend-Micro, makers of anti-virus software conducted a similar study and found that 66% of employees checked personal email, 51% browsed websites not directly related to their jobs, 39% did personal online banking, and 31% made a non-business related online purchase.
Certainly if you’re looking at all this activity from an employer’s perspective it seems like the majority of workers are slackers. But how to explain record worker productivity? Enter the University of Melbourne. Flying in the face of conventional wisdom, researchers there have amazingly found that employees who use the Internet at work for personal reasons are 9% more productive than employees who don’t. They reason that perhaps surfing the Internet for pleasure or personal reasons increases worker’s concentration levels or eases anxiety about other parts of their lives, enabling them to concentrate more on their work. “People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,” said Dr. Brent Coker from the University of Melbourne’s Department of Management and Marketing. “Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity.” Of course, even the researchers admit there are limits. Workers spending 20% or more of their time at the office watching YouTube or bidding on eBay auctions aren’t likely to be improving their productivity.
As with everything in life the whole issue comes down to one of moderation. Short personal breaks on the Internet seem to be okay but overuse cuts into meaningful work. The solution, as it’s always been, is strong management and personal oversight. However, in today’s technologically connected world perhaps companies feel their management has become overtaxed and are fighting technology with technology. Cyclope-Series has found that in 2009 54% of US companies have decided to block social networks at work.
All social media is, is a communication platform. When employees don’t have anything to do, they will find other things to do that will not relate with work.. probably just talk. Which in an essence, is the same thing social media and internet does.