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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."
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"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.
...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 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?
Compiling.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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".
You might want to compile again, just to be sure.