Posted by Susan Wilson Solovic, February 10, 2013
New research from Kansas State University finds the average worker spends 60 to 80 percent of his or her time on the Internet engaged in activities unrelated to the job. It’s known as cyber-loafing or cyber-slacking and many business owners believe it’s affecting their bottom line due to lost productivity.
You might think it’s younger employees who spend their time surfing the web, but that’s not the case. The researchers found older workers may not spend as much time on social media sites, but they like to manage their finances during work hours. Even if their is an Internet usage policy in place, the survey found it didn’t change employees’ attitudes toward cyber-loafing.
Not everyone agrees, however, that cyber-slacking is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, some experts believe that employees who browse the web may be more productive. They site research that demonstrates employees who take a cyber-loafing break come back to their job refreshed and more engaged.
What do you think? Is cyber-loafing beneficial or destructive? Should there be a reasonableness standard? Let me know your thoughts.
Read Original Post
seems that I am watching most people using it to space out their day, Not do anything specific they have 6 hours of actual work and instead of getting it done and moving to a future project or help others get caught up they start to go on the internet browsing the websites. Which can be disruptive as well to the others around them that have a full days work.
Comment by Frank — February 20, 2013 @ 7:28 am
I think “They cite research” (not “site”). As far as internet surfing goes–the cost in time, band width and potential virus infections far outweighs any benefit that might be derived because employees come back “refreshed and more engaged”. Most people would benefit more from a brisk walk than non-work internet browsing.
Comment by Chris — February 20, 2013 @ 7:35 am
This does not surprise me. The amount of overhead companies pay is amazing, and then to realize that what they pay their employees is only for 20 to 40 percent of what the employees could be getting done is absurd. That’s why companies should be considering Virtual Assistants. You only pay for the time they are working, not chatting with co-workers, bathroom breaks, personal emails, or cyber-loafing.
Comment by Laura A. Lee — February 20, 2013 @ 1:52 pm