Freedom to surf within the work hours…
April 8, 2009 by Kine
The high use of social network sites at the workplace is a growing concern for the employer; some have even considered dismissing employees who used e.g. Facebook in the work hours.
According to a new study, done by the University of Melbourne, shows that workers that were allowed to use the Internet for leisure became more productive.
The author of the study, Dr. Brent Coker, looked at the results and considered them in relation to the importance of taking a break from work, if you do so, you give the mind to rest itself and increases the productivity when you go back to work again. “People need to take a break to get the concentration back,” says Coker in a statement, in the press release on the university’s homepage.
However, this has to be within a reasonable limit. “People who do surf the Internet for fun at work – within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office – are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” Coker says.
Facebook, YouTube and reading news papers online were web pages especially mentioned in the study, these are also web pages several employers have chosen to block. “Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.” But it’s important to remember that people are different, and it’s important to emphasise that it is the people that uses less than 20% of their total time online that is productive, however, some employees can be in a position to have an addiction to these services, and if this is the case, the productivity will be lower.
Should companies allow Internet surfing for fun to increase the productivity? I think this is a difficult topic and question to answer. In many ways it depends on what company you work for, some is more dependent on using the Internet than others, and can you really expect that your workers will not take a break and use the Internet for fun?
Lol..the second cartoon is really funny. Wel I think companies should allow internet surfing during work hours to increase productivity, but must be aware that this might lead to employees abusing that freedom.
If at all such is allowed in a company, the management must ensure certain standards are available to monitor the usage of the internet so that employees dont forget they came to work and not net surfing.
I totally agree with Uchechi. Internet surfing during work hours can help gain concentration but at the same time this freedom can be misused. In my previous job there were actual cases when the management had to give warning to several employess and also blocked few of the social networking sites.
I think it’s a no brainer. Employees should definately be allowed to surf the web for fun, as long as they get the work done.
You mention reading the news online and using social networking sites: digital marketers and PR folk may be using these for work purposes anyway, so it’s only natural.