Companies are increasingly taking a more lenient approach to employees’ social media use but is it a mistake?
While some workplaces still ban social media sites such as Facebook, an increasing amount are taking a more lenient approach – but could it be to their detriment? If one new study is to be believed, that laid-back attitude could be costing businesses billions of dollars.
"As the CEO of a busy company, the amount of time I can visibly see being wasted as I walk around the office is a source of annoyance for me personally,” said Chris Meredith of OfficeBroker.com. “I doubt I'm the only boss who thinks this way.”
The company recently conducted a survey of 1,150 workers to determine just how widespread the online timewasting really is and find out exactly how much it’s costing companies – the results are staggering.
In the study, 72 per cent of respondents admitted to checking their Facebook while at work and 81 per cent said they try to hide their unproductive online activity from others.
Even more shockingly, 35 per cent of employees confessed to spending over an hour of every workday on Facebook.
“Where is the business value?” asked CEO Meredith. “I'm not surprised so many companies choose to police internet usage so aggressively."
The research also revealed that employees’ social media use could be costing companies the equivalent of CA $1,514 / NZ$1,742 every year.
On average, employees visit the Facebook app of website 13.8 times during the workday, for two minutes and 22 seconds each time.
While Facebook dominated as the main distractor, other common social media sites also featured with 12 per cent of employees admitting to checking Linkedin at work and eight per cent checking Twitter.
