According to researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australia, who studied the relationship between the use of social networking sites at work and productivity, 70 per cent of office employees use the internet at work for personal reasons. Of this percentage, they found that nine per cent were more productive compared to employees that didn‘t use the web for fun.
“Workplace internet leisure browsing can help sharpen workers‘ concentration,” Brent Coker, from the University‘s department of management and marketing, was quoted in www.pcworld.com as saying. “People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration.”
But, a report by Nucleus Research, an Information Technology research company, published in July 2009, three months after the University of Melbourne study was published, found that another way of reducing productivity was to allow employees to use the social networking sites.
The President of the Social Media Club, Nigeria, Mr. Yinka Olaito, however, advised companies to turn social media sites into marketing tools.
Coker defined WLIB activities as browsing the web for information and reviews of products, reading online news sites, playing online games, keeping up-to-date with friends activities on social networking sites and watching videos on YouTube.
“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,” he said.
“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity. That‘s not always the case.”
Similarly, 2008 study by British think thank and research institute, Demos, found that using social networking sites during office hours might actually be good for businesses.
According to the study, encouraging employees to network and build relationships with their colleagues via social networking can be more beneficial than detrimental for a company. It found that social networks helped foster productivity, innovation and a democratic work environment.
“The answer is not to close down staff access to social network platforms, nor is it investing blindly in collaborative platforms,” researcher Peter Bradwell told Reuters. “Rather, we argue that we need to understand how, once we accept the implications of social networks, we can manage the new challenges and trade-offs.”
While the use of social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube may not be work related, Bradwell found that limiting or preventing access to these sites could actually harm a business. “Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counterintuitive, but it appears to create business more capable of maintaining stability,” he said
Also, a research by PopCap Games in 2008 claimed that taking a 10-minute break to surf the net reduces stress and sharpens the mind.
The games manufacturer said that ‘electronic breaks‘ actually increased staff efficiency and morale, warning that by stopping workers from surfing the web, businesses were contributing to a loss of productivity worth up to US$8bn every year.
As part of the findings, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychologist at Goldsmiths College, University of London, carried out psychometric trials in a number of United Kingdom businesses.
”Work days are becoming longer, workloads are becoming more demanding, and UK bosses are introducing Internet bans to help combat alleged productivity losses and inappropriate use of workplace resources,” said Chamorro-Premuzic.
“Allowing workers more freedom on the PC can benefit morale and boost company profits. In addition to allowing their mind to switch off from their work worries, employers can foster a more trusting and enjoyable environment,” he added.
No doubt, these findings will come as a blow to companies that have restricted their employees‘ access to social networking sites. But such companies’ reasons for doing so might have been reinforced by the Nucleus Research.
Nucleus Research found that companies that allowed users to access Facebook in the workplace lost an average of 1.5 per cent in total employee productivity. The survey of 237 employees also showed that 77 per cent of workers who had a Facebook account used it during work hours.
The study found that some employees even used the social networking site as much as two hours a day at work. Nucleus Research did not say how many workers fit into that category, but did note that one in 33 workers surveyed only used Facebook at work.
Of those using Facebook at work, 87 per cent said they had no clear business reason for using the site.
“If your company is facing tight margins and low profitability, as many are now, then how can you accept any work distractions that drain your overall productivity?” asked Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research for Nucleus Research, in a statement obtained by www.computerworld.com. “While it won‘t make you popular, restricting Facebook can reclaim lost productivity. If your profitability is say two per cent, this could be the difference between staying open or closing shop.”
Olaito said the use of Facebook at work should be restricted to certain time of the day like lunch hour. The only exception, he noted, should be where an employee‘s function involves online customer service, support, engagement, reputation management or any form of e-services.
However, he advised organisations to educate their employees on the use of social networking sites for marketing.
”On the other hand, if employees are tutored on the use of social networking sites as tools for social marketing and are all involved in marketing, brand awareness, product exposure, their online activities can aid organisation’s objective. That becomes a win-win approach and not a situation that will affect the company negatively,” he said.
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