Those who surf the Internet at work for personal reasons are not any less productive than other employees -- in fact, they are more productive. At least that's what a recent Australian study found. According to the study, workers who use the Internet for personal reasons are 9% more productive than those who don't.
However, studies like that could be dangerous, because they suggest that, oh, it's OK to go on Twitter 24/7 because it makes me more productive. Not true. The study simply demonstrates that there are workers who have the ability and digital inclination to balance many tasks online and still be very productive. I would say many digital natives, or those who grew up with digital technology, have that ability, and will continue to transform the workforce with it.
So the study basically says that digitally savvy workers are not less productive. To me, that's kind of a "no duh," but I am glad there are more stats to refute the stigma that those who spend their breaks surfing the Internet (rather than any other time waster) are shirking other duties.
Also, the study reminds us that workers needs breaks in order to keep their minds fresh. We need to come up for air! In a previous post lobbying for why employers should let workers Twitter, I likened tweeting to the smoke break of the 21st century.
But what is happening here? Not only do we spend eight or more hours a day glued to a screen, but we remain glued to our screens even on breaks...Guilty!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
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2 comments:
For the record, nobody but smokers ever saw smoking breaks as anything other than a waste of time. Smokers always maintained it helped them...while the rest of us kept right on working, and wondered how...
;-}
Good point, Nevin. I was using that comparison as if smoke breaks were acceptable! And come to think of it -- even though I used to be a smoker -- it always annoyed me when co-workers went on smoke breaks too often! :)
But in general, my point is, employees don't leave their desks much on breaks, thanks to our friend the Internet.
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