It’s no secret that people sneak in some personal e-mail and Web surfing when they’re supposed to be working.
A new study attempts to shatter perceptions that these Web surfers are just slackers trying to avoid work. In fact, it turns out everyone does it, from senior managers to entry-level employees — and researchers figure that means management attempts to clamp down on Internet use may be missing the mark.
Many legitimate reasons may be at play, speculates R. Kelly Garrett, one of the study’s authors and a communications professor at Ohio State University. For instance, people may use the Web at work to help balance job and life responsibilities; with the personal matters taken care of from work, they can focus on the task at hand.
Installing filters to block access to Web sites and e-mail services could backfire by reducing job satisfaction and thus productivity, researchers wrote.
The study on “cyberslacking,” based on statistical analyses of responses in a phone survey of 1,024 people during the summer of 2006, was published in the June issue of the CyberPsychology and Behavior journal.
The study didn’t attempt to go much beyond trying to gauge the types of employees who use the Internet for personal reasons. Garrett said more research is needed to determine motives and measure effects on productivity. Those studies, researchers say, would then help companies figure out how best to control and accommodate personal use.
Photo by tatlici.
Study Shatters Myth On Net Use At Work
June 23, 2008 by Rich | 6 Comments
In Employees, Internet, Productivity
Curt on June 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 am
This is good to see. I will have to show this to my managers.
B Smith @ Wealth and Wisdom on June 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
Like any tool it can be used for productive and for wasteful purposes. It’s one thing to check the score from last night’s game or to check when that show is playing. It is another to spend hours on IM or with mindless surfing.
Ron McDaniel on June 23rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hmmm, I think that it depends on the business, as well as the people. If I am really into my job/project - I do not want to read news or chat via IM.
That is no excuse though. We cannot always love what we are working on. We have actually found a big market for virtual buzz assistants that do the social media and blogging stuff so that employees are not distracted.
Angela on June 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I don’t know, I can understand why businesses wouldn’t want to have their employees playing around on the clock.
cassy on June 24th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Some employee tends to abuse when their superiors are not around.This attitude is very common and i think by installing this filter is a good idea.
Solburn on June 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I end up spending my time reading and writing emails on my phone. I also spend more time texting on my phone because of this. In addition to that, I spent some time in trying to figure out a way to bypass the filters.
If I just had access to my yahoo mail, I would have read the email, responded to the email and been back to doing working in less time than it takes me to do the same thing on my phone.
The point being, if people want to goof off, they’ll find a way to whether it is surfing, texting, talking on the phone, or chatting it up with a co-worker. Why not let them goof off at their desk where they will be more inclined to get back to work?