Slashdot Mirror
Websurfing Damaging U.S. Productivity?
Bert writes "Ars Technica does a good job of debunking a study that claims that American business lose $178 billion a
year to web surfing in the workplace. Particularly alarming is the fact that the study used the beliefs of 350 IT managers to determine how many hours a week the average employee
wastes online. Like the article asks: where's the calculation of how much time we all spend answer work e-mail at home?"
As a programmer, I have to say that my frequent visits to coding sites (ie codeproject) have often increased my productivity as I tend to find bits of code that can be used in whatever I am working on, or at least inspire me to do something similar.
Without the web, and the resources it provides for helping solve problems, I would waste much more time when I get stumped on the job.
Just looking at my website statistics from people coming to my website via slashdot.org, I actually have a large number at the beginning of the workday, and towards the end, but during the day, it looks like most people stay pretty productive...
:-)
Or just that they do their slashdotting in the morning and other non-productive surfing later
Luke
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If you also have a website that's geared for computer newbies, get a hold of me. Maybe we can partner up or something.
This was one of my immediate reactions, too. If you look at the web sites I visit during work hours -- during long breaks or otherwise -- the vast majority are technical. I've picked up plenty of useful information about the software tools we use (or have since started using), coding techniques, and any number of other things that have increased the ability of myself and/or my colleagues to do the job we're paid for.
I do check my personal web mail maybe every hour or so, which takes all of about five seconds if I'm not stopping to read something, and I do check the BBC News site occasionally, but just about everything else is potentially advantageous to my employer as well as interesting to me.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I think you have a reasonable outlook but not everyone is fortunate enough to work at a place that allows you to escape. And, the problem is that "IT Decision Makers" routinely expect well in excess of 40 hours per week from their employees. My current position is with a company that has a good work-life balance but when I was working in major corporate IT divisions I was *expected* to work more than 40 "if needed". And since we tended to get projects assigned with unrealistic deadlines, "if needed" meant "damn near always".
So if I am expected to put in extra effort and extra hours it is up to *me* to determine whether I want to do a couple surfing runs each day so long as I'm not doing things that put the company at risk (surfing porn, emailing competitors, etc). As long as I meet deadlines and my productivity is good, it's none of their business how I divvy up my time. And this doesn't even touch the fact that it is almost impossible for a senior IT worker to get a real "day off" anymore.
That being said, there is a serious problem with a minority of people who do things like daytrading, fantasy sports, shopping, etc all day long while doing the absolute minimum to avoid losing their jobs. But that is a management problem not a technology problem and it is wrong and short-sighted to punish 95% of your employees because mid-managers are too lazy (or too busy daytrading and playing fantasy football) to stay engaged in their employee's tasks and responsibilities.
I wish there were some surveys to compare the relative productivity of companies with liberal internet policies to those with a "total lockdown" mentality. My suspicion is that good management + a liberal policy would result in greater productivity (from improved morale) than an IT policy that treats the employees like untrustworthly spoiled children.
Employers cost employees billions annually in clothing and shoe sales to conform with arbitrary company dress-code policies. Film at eleven.
Seriously, though. How much car maintenance, clothing shopping, gasoline and other work-related expenses do you pay out of your paycheck with zero-reimbursement for your employer?
Milo
At my old employer, I used to work significant overtime. I used to come in on Saturdays. I was rewarded by that company. I left that employer eight years ago. I went directly to my current employer. Now that I am married and have a child, you can be damn sure I don't work on Saturdays or Sundays. When I leave the office, I don't look at my e-mail until the morning. I insist on receiving utilization credit for every hour worked (I am a consultant). When I take a vacation, I don't take my laptop with me.
Despite my "attitude" (as you describe it), I received significant raises over the past couple of years, when no one else in my company was getting any increase.
Why can't employers accept surfing as a means to keep workers working and morale high. We are not robots...Okay, so block on the inappropriate things...Okay, so monitor our workflow incase if it's excessive...but don't take it away from us...I think it definitely helps me do *MORE* work when I am able to surf...I can concentrate better in spurts... If they took away the internet the site poopshoot.com would dissapear! okay, ive never been there. but what about the people who do!! Strike it down as another employee perk such as hawaiian shirt fridays (lol)...or just employee flex days and move on!
I'd like to see a calculation of the amount of money lost by salaried employees who work more than the mythical 40 hour work week without anything resembling overtime. Let's do some math.
Let's consider just engineers. There are 2 million engineers in the US, nearly all of whom are salaried employees, nearly all of whom work over 40 hours a week. The average engineer makes 70-90K/yr. Let's take the average at 80k/yr. Now, assuming a 40-hour work-week and the standard 3-weeks vacation, that works out to about $41 an hour. Now, I'd say your average engineer would believe they work, on average, 50 hours per week. That's $40bn in lost wages for engineers alone, using conservative estimates. Now, consider the number of other overworked, salaried employees. The lost wages could easily run to 10x that!
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
When asked "Gosh, do you think that this is a moral thing for an American company do to?" they replied "Hey, we just sell the software, we can't be responsible for how people use it."
Anyone who has worked with sales before knows that is a load of shit. Before you start talking to a customer, you learn about their needs so you can better sell your product. There's no way they just passively got a contact with the chinese government. I promise you, they were over there for weeks, showing powerpoint presentations claiming that their product could filter and report on dissidents MUCH better than the competition.
They've been putting up this bullshit about web usage for years. A few years ago, it was porn at work, and how companies are at risk for lawsuits if they don't immediately buy a filter. Of course, this fails the "What if it wasn't on a computer?" test, since if I brought an old-fashioned porn mag to work and was caught reading it, i'd be fired, and the company wouldn't be negligent. They don't need a $100,000 porn scanner at each door... but since it is on a COMPTUER, well, it is magic.
I mean, check out the management. Their CEO looks like he is about to rip off his false face to reveal the reptilian features underneath.
I used to work with a guy who would sit, staring at a completely empty, default WindowsXP desktop for HOURS at a time. Just stare. No dozing off, no listening to music, no spreadsheet or requirements document or text editor open even to look like he was working. Just the rolling hills wallpaper from Redmond. You could walk by on your way to a meeting and then on your way back and he wouldn't have moved an inch. Downright creepy.
BUT, he wasn't surfing the Internet, so they left him alone.
The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things