Slashdot Mirror
Australian Study Says Web Surfing Boosts Office Productivity
Hugh Pickens writes "Dr Brent Coker, professor of Department of Management and Marketing at Melbourne University, says employees who surf the internet for leisure during working hours are more productive than those who don't. A study of 300 office workers found 70 percent of people who use the internet at work engage in Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB). 'People who do surf the internet for fun at work — within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office — are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't,' said Coker. 'People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture — after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored. It's the same in the workplace.' However, Coker warns that excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm increasing my productivity right now!
"Australian researcher's lab shut down by MPAA."
I'm sure my boss is going to be thrilled since he's looking over my shoulder reading this page as I type comments instead of doing my work.
Switch to surfing porn. It will make him even happier!
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
No, you misunderstand what they're saying. They're talking about the amount of work which is accomplished, not how long you're working. So, they're saying those who never surf do x amount of work. However, those who surf for 20% of their day (or less) do 1.09*x work. Even though they spend less time working, they get more done, thus they're more productive
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
I also promote in-office online banking and other personal business but the company balked when I suggested catered meals would also boost productivity by lowering stress levels caused by having to go out and forage, and the health benefits of not wolfing down food. Another company agreed with me and even hired a masage therapist because they found lowering stress levels among employees caused the biggest spike in productivity.
I bet a little web surfing keeps one from getting "too bored". A recent article in the same vein said that doodling helps people pay attention--I don't recall whether that one made slashdot.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
Hmm... gotta get back, done compiling.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive. Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
Depending on what the employee is viewing, it is also an opportunity to LEARN something.
My wife regularly surfs the web at work, often news, and consistently finds stories that directly effect the industry she works in, sometimes her actual place of employment. She then brings this information to the people she works for, the people that need to know about it.
I am going to print that article and put it on the wall next to my desk so that next time I don't have to use the "code is compiling" excuse.
Everybody who works from home?
If taking a cigarette break, coffee break or gossip break is allowed, I cannot see any difference in internet break or game break.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
Compiling.
I'm sure it is for just about everyone reading this.
The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
.... also include surfing for pron?
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Workplace web bludging 'good for productivity'
allwords.com tells me that "to bludge" is to avoid responsibility. What a great word. Is it used outside Australia?
/...
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive. Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
I can't say it's exactly 'authorized' but no one stops me when I roll under the desk and take a quick rest. Mostly they laugh.
Qxe4
I am so asking for a raise.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
We need to commission studies that look at increases in productivity for the following activities during work time:
1) Games and gaming at work
2) Consumption of alcohol at work
3) Coming to work in casual clothes - the more casual the better - think underwear and curry stained shirt
4) Workplace sex
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I'm much more inclined to believe that people with above-average productivity can afford to spend up to 20% of their time surfing the internet.
They did the same thing where I work but went further by adding a free "Happy Ending." The plan backfired as productivity decreased and sleepiness increased. However, absolutely no was was stressed out.
Posting anon because the wife reads slashdot.
that I'm helping to get my work done right now!
I think this should be filed under the general maxim that happier workers are, generally, more productive workers.
Plus, so many jobs now expect you to be working to some extent while you're at home (checking email, etc). If an employer wants an employee to work while at home, then it's reasonable for the employee to do some personal web surfing at work.
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
They just said that 20% of your paid time, doing something other than what they are paying you to do, is reasonable? Would a company paying you 20% less all of the sudden be reasonable? If you are getting paid, STFU and get the work done. If there's no work to do, clock out and go home.
Well according to this study, the people who offend you so much get more done than the people who don't.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Some source was quoted in the Newsweek I was reading the other day as saying that 25% of people view internet porn at work.
(This surprised me. Slashdot? Sure. Wikipedia? Definitely. Porn? That's just stupid.)
Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
Just close the door to your office and lock it. If you're woken by knocking or telephone, you have a moment to gather your composure before opening the door. It works for me!
What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
by having to go out and forage,
You do know people can bring their own lunch to work and not have to forage? It saves bundles of money for the person and they know exactly what they're having. This also allows them more time to surf the web at lunch or maybe go out and have a walk around the building or get a quickie around the corner.
I realize this is a simple solution so obviously you're a programmer! (j/k)
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Perhaps people who browse the web at work are _more comfortable with_ and _more knowledgeable about_ computers in general, than people who don't browse the internet at work. I've seen many users who are clueless about computers wasting time by using their computers badly, unproductively, or not at all.
If you can't use a spreadsheet, chances are you don't 'get' the internet. I'm wondering if perhaps the study is drawing the wrong conclusion. Perhaps internet browsing isn't the 'cure', but a healthy symptom indicating a better affinity to computers.
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive.
My wife and I work in the same department, and occasionally take a "nap" together in a spare office. Curiously, this seems to reduce the productivity of our colleagues, who often look annoyed after our "nap".
Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
I do. That is, I effectively do.
Ok, you want the truth? Nobody knows the difference.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Ah, so you're company pays you to sit at your desk for 40 hours a week? Or does your company pay you to get a weeks worth of work done in a week?
If you're being logical about it, working for 32 hours and getting 44 hours of work done is still better than working 40 hours and getting 40 hours of work done; which is what the article is saying. One of the biggest problems I have with the world in general is people doing what seems right instead of applying logic to the situation.
I would suggest that rather than websurfing increasing productivity, people tend to leave authoritarian employers who disallow websurving, productive people having more ability to move.
What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
Sheer luxury mate. I work in a hole in the road, it's a twenty mile commute on foot in the dark and thirty back. My father fed me stone cold poison and killed me every morning before work.
But can ye get the lads to believe you these days? Noooooo.....
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Yeah, but most people are. And what I've seen at all the 7+ companies i've work for is pretty much right out of Office Space: people only working just hard enough to not get fired.
It seems the corporate system is designed this way though. At most companies I've been paid a straight salary with no overtime and either no bonus or a possible 5% bonus based on how well I've been able to project a productive air to my manager.
So where's the incentive to work harder? When we kick ass and do well as a company, I rarely see an extra cent. When we do poorly as a company I still get paid exactly the same. True I have the possibility of getting laid off but everyone faces the same possibility and generally the axe doesn't fall on me because I do a perfectly OK job. I'd love to be encouraged to work harder with profit sharing or the like but few companies do this.
It seems there are much better models to encourage productivity and I have no idea why most companies don't adopt them.
It may be that bright-minded, sharp, intelligent, high mental-energy, people are already prone to being more productive, and that searching for ideas and information is just part of their wiring. Of course the information and stimulation help feed the process. OK, back to work...
Knowledge work is entirely different from manufacturing type work. The relationship between actual production and hours-spent is very weak. We aren't screwing on hubcaps; we have to coax the glob of meat between our ears to cooperate.
Where I work, there are managers who (incompetently) think knowledge workers should be managed like factory workers. These chumps have extremely high turnover, and their employees seem defensive and stressed most of the time. One such manager constantly monitors his employee's internet usage, and fires all of those who visit non-work-related web sites.
If you have an incompetent manager who thinks he's running a factory, browse anyway. You really should be happy if you get fired for moderate web use, because you will be miserable trying to build a career under such a buffoon, anyway.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
100% identical! +1
It's similar to eating a week's worth of food in 1 day and not eating for the other 6 days...
I had a boss that would have balked at the 20% figure. He believed (and told us as much) that you were wasting company time and money if you were anything less than 100% engaged in your work. He was, however, always interested in boosting productivity any way possible, so when someone brought up Google's "personal project time" policy (Google was the rockstar of the Internet then, even moreso than now), he wanted to try it. Once we started seriously discussing it, though, the boss killed the idea by proclaiming that the personal project time would be in addition to, not replacing your normal 8-hour day. That means you either had to come in early, stay late, or come in on a weekend. And it wouldn't count as overtime either. That pretty much killed all interest.
(Posting this at work, from my new job.)
I hear sandwiches are pretty easy to make ;-) Seriously though, if you do some research on cooking, you will find 15-20 minute recipes for lunchtime. Of course, if you don't know how to cook, it might take you a while to get up to speed. Some of my recomendations though are: energy bars, left over spaghetti w/ sauce, imported ramen (actually has some nutritional value sometimes), hard boiled eggs, veges w/ dip, chips, juice boxes/soda cans, hummus, leftover meat left in a marinade overnight. You can get a slow cooker and have rice/beans ready for you in the morning to take to work. If you want to be a little more creative you could take a look over at Just Bento for recipes. If you enjoy food, investing time in learning to prepare what you like can be massively rewarding!
The story about General Groves and the Los Alamos scientists during the Manhattan Project comes right to mind here. He entered a room where they were all standing and sitting about working out equations on a blackboard and went ballistic wanting to know whey weren't "working".
I've done both. Believe me, the people who get stressed out by "foraging" will get at least twice as stressed out trying to find time to throw together lunch to take along. Sure it's no big deal for the morning people who get up an hour before they need to, but for the night-owl types, there is never a good time to pack a lunch.
The only time I pack a lunch is when I'm *really* short on funds. Most of the time I'd rather pay 4x as much and eat unhealthy food that I can pick up over lunch.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
No, I share one with 3 other people.
From Michael Scott, "Jim Halpert. Pros. Smart, cool, good looking. Remind you of anyone you know? Cons. Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project and he can finish the same project in a half an hour. So that should tell you something."
Anecdotally, I am more inclined to believe that people who are more productive can slack off more. At my previous job, I would often do more work than my colleague and still found plenty of time to slack off, because I knew how to do the work quickly and correctly. He meanwhile, would be busy all day, and was doing less work than I.
I worked for a company like this. Or actually I still work for them. Their problem was that they *were* running a factory. They just made the mistake of treating their office workers the same way as their factory workers.
So when I got sick of working in that environment, and told them where they could shove their industrial-economy employee regulatory scheme, they fired me. I refused their severance offer, along with any help in training a replacement. Now they pay me more money to do the same work from home. The extra time for reading Slashdot is just icing on the cake.
By his match the productivity gain doesn't outweigh the loss.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Let me tell you my secret recipe - this one is easy enough that I used to make it when I was single, and tasty/nutritious enough that my wife asked me to make it for dinner last night. ;)
:)
:)
You will need:
Two packets of Indo Mie mi goreng
Two eggs
A medium-sized onion
A tomato
A small can of mushrooms in butter sauce
Whatever else is in the fridge
Butter
Heat a small pot, add about 1/2 Tbsp butter. Crack two eggs into the pot and scramble. When eggs are mostly solid, add chopped onion and tomato, along with whatever else (meat, other veggies, leftovers) you find in the fridge that looks like it'd go well. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to soften. Add mi goreng noodles and flavouring to the pot along with the can of mushrooms. Add around 1 cup boiling water, and simmer for 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Note: This concoction generally *looks* pretty iffy, but it tastes fantastic and isn't too bad for you healthwise. It's also brilliant hangover-cure food.
P.S. Your point (1) in your after-work story is the problem. The reason you feel bodgy is the mismatch between brain-tired and body tired: When you get home from work, instead of collapsing, try to get 20-30min exercise. Go for a bike ride, jog, do weights, whatever. Not only will it kickstart your stagnating metabolism, but (I find) a bit of exercise really cuts down your desire for greasy food and alcohol afterwards.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
I have a strange feeling tree pussy doesn't mean what I think it does.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
That brings up an interesting possibility; ignoring the obvious correlation != causation issue here, consider this possible reason why surfing the web at work might make people slightly more productive overall: whether you work for 40 of your 40 hours or 32 of your 40 hours, you'll only do enough to not get fired. Perhaps people who browse the web 20% of the time have more cause for concern about their productivity not being "just enough", so they overcompensate and actually work harder?
No wonder you feel like a lethargic slug.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
Companies don't pay for 40 hours of your work, they pay for 40 hours of your presence. Your boss can easily measure how long you've been at work, but not how productive you've been, so that's the metric used.
mmmm...forbidden donut