Survey shows mixed results on extent of productivity impact News | 17 Sep 2010 :
A survey of Irish people has found that a significant proportion is spending company time on social networking sites. The survey of 1,000 Irish people conducted by IrishJobs.ie found that 3.5% of respondents were spending more than an hour a day on social networking sites. While this may seem small, the survey report points out that this equates to some 65,000 people when taken as a proportion of the national workforce.The survey found that that over half (52%) of respondents regularly accessed social networking sites at work, with nearly one in five (19%) admitting they spend up to 30 minutes a day. A further 8% confessed to spendingup to one hour per day using social networking sites while at work, while 3.5% admitted to spending one hour or more. The rise in popularity of Facebook in the Irish workplace is highlighted with 90% of respondents saying that they use the site, while 39% of workers visit YouTube and 15% use Twitter."Our results clearly show that Irish workers are spending increased time whilst at work on social networking sites, which if left unchecked could have negative repercussions on the productivity of many companies across the country," said Valerie Sorohan, marketing manager, IrishJobs.ie. "Whilst we're certainly not kill-joys, and feel that certain periods of time on social sites can be beneficial, people spending more than an hour each day of work time on social networking sites could hamper companies' efforts to boost productivity. Companies would do well to monitor use of social networking sites and have clear social networking policies in place."The survey also found widespread resistance to banning social network access at work, with more than three quarters of people (77%) in favour of some form of access during working hours. Despite using such sites duringwork hours more than half (53%) of the respondents maintained that they experienced no impact on productivity, 7% stated that social networking sites made them more productive, as they claimed short breaks to check their sites helped them concentrate when they returned to their work. However 5% admitted to being less productive because they were constantly distracted.With regard to policies and controls, the survey reports that large companies were more inclined to have a policy in place regarding the use of social networking sites during working hours, with 58% of those working in large companies saying their workplace has a social networking policy. As a result, usage among employees in these companies was lower, with 43% logging onto social networking sites during the day. When asked about the specifics of the survey, IrishJobs.ie said that the survey did not ask respondents whether the time spent on social networks at work was during breaks or lunchtime, which may skew the results slightly.However, just 27% of those working in smaller businesses said their workplace has a social networking policy, and as a result a larger number (55%) of employees admitted to using social networking sites during working hours.IrishJobs.ie is part of a wider group that conducted a similar survey in the UK where it was found that the Irish proportion of 3.5% of people who spend more than an hour a day on social networking sites compares with some 5.8% in the UK.While the survey claims some €700 million of lost productivity for the Irish economy from our 3.5% of ardent social networkers, the figure is arrived at in a somewhat simplistic manner. The 3.5% is taken from the 1.8 million of the total workforce to give 65,000 odd. With a 2009 CSO figure of €159 billion for GDP, representing an average hourly figure of €41 GDP per capita, the lost hours total 16,965,000. Without specifics as to who is allowed use social networks during breaks, and wider figures as to who has Internet access in the workplace, and where such access is controlled by filtering, the €700 million is a maximum figure designed to grab attention. However, if the lost hours were only half of this, it would still be a significant annual loss to the economy at a time when it can ill afford it."Usage of social media amongst Irish workers may well increase in line with the UK figures as broadband speeds here are set to increase and the popularity of these sites continues to grow. Therefore, it is advisable that companies proactively put in place measures to curb usage in order to protect productivity levels," concludes Sorohan.Read more: http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=15584#ixzz0zo7T8QiO