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Quarter of Workers' Time Online Is Personal

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the this-is-why-we-created-the-idle-section dept.

sloit writes "Most people spend more than 25 per cent of their time online at work on personal activities. And 80 per cent of emails sent by volume in the workplace are personal. Bosses often have no way of tracking Internet activity or policies to define what staff can and cannot do. Paul Hortop, who reviews company network security for consultancy Voco, said the most common websites visited by personal web surfers were online trading sites, instant messaging/chat services and peer-to-peer sharing sites (allowing movie, music and software sharing)."

8 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. gbtw... by jonaskoelker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the most common websites visited by personal web surfers were online trading sites, instant messaging/chat services and peer-to-peer sharing sites

    Cue the collective "You left out slashdot!"

    And GBTW!

    1. Re:gbtw... by electrictroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >>>25 per cent of their time online at work on personal activities.

      Shocking.

      And before computers existed, they spent 25 percent of their time standing-around the water cooler, or sitting at their desks daydreaming.

      --
      The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
    2. Re:gbtw... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The best milk comes from the happiest cows.

      If you want to squeeze every last penny of time out of your workers, then you had better be prepared for the drop in productivity and quality that follows. This isn't to say that you should be providing lazer tag sets and two hour lunches to use them in. But it does mean that if you create a work environment with the rules of a gulag, then can expect good workers to leave, middling workers to become poor, and poor workers to either bomb, revolt or take advantage of the situation. In effect you will be spelling the end of your business.

      Just like cows, it doesn't take a lot to keep workers happy either. Friendly environment, free food, good furniture, understanding they have outside lives. These things cost you little, but deliver far more. If people like where they work and who they work with, they won't want to leave. Balance in all things of course, but at the end of the day, allowing geeks to browse Slashdot, or people to call back home will cost you far less than insisting you get back every nanosecond of the time you pay for. After all, what is it that you do at work all day?

      If you want the best milk, you need the best cows, but also the best fields.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    3. Re:gbtw... by philspear · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unfettered web access leads to ridiculous losses of productivity.

      That's a hypothesis. Is there proof one way or the other? If my job boss tried to increase productivity by a few percentage points by micromanaging, blocking all non-strictly work related websites, and tried to put blinders on me, I personally would spend more time trying to get around them and THEN goofing off than I would if they just left it up to my best judgement. Plus I'd think less of my job and would be less motivated.

      That's just me though, I suppose other people might welcome the fetters, and possibly on average your approach would increase productivity. So lets see a study.

  2. Unlikely To Change by jcnnghm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People have always found ways to waste time at work, and that's not going to change any time soon. Trying to make it stop will only breed resentment, lower employee morale, and reduce productivity. I frequently take short work breaks to work on personal stuff, especially when I am trying to think through a problem.

    --
    You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. - Winston Churchill
  3. If they were getting their work done... by earnest+murderer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    who cares.

    If not, fire them.

    Chime the horde of corporate apologists and micromanagers pissing in the wind.

    --
    Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
    1. Re:If they were getting their work done... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If an employee manages to work only 2 hours a day but accomplishes more work than his 8-hour/day peers, why would an employer complain?

      greed?

      stupidity?

      Many managers out there are way too stupid to understand a guy that can work in very intense bursts and then assume they can operate that way 24/7

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. Re:Unlikely To Break in. by Mr2cents · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People aren't machines. And if your job is creative, you *need* to turn the switch from time to time to force you to think about something completely different. Otherwise you keep thinking the same way about a problem (tunnel vision), instead of finding a new and better way to solve it. At least, that's what I think.

    Now, back to work..

    --
    "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey