Surfing At Work Makes Employees More Productive

Visiting sites like Facebook or YouTube while at work can make employees more productive, claims a new University of Melbourne study.

Dr. Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing" (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.

"People who do surf the Internet for fun at work – within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office – are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t," he says.

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity," said Coker.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB. The most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, and reading online news sites. Playing online games was the fifth most popular, while watching YouTube was seventh.

"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case," said Coker.

Coker cautions that those with signs of Internet addiction, WILB can have a negative effect on productivity.

"WILB is not as helpful for this group of people – those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," he said.

There are 16 Comments. Add Yours.

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Amadeo Constanzo
April 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm

I think this is a credible study. Companies like Google (that do not conform to how most companies operate) would never block their employees from surfing the web. Yet, their employees are probably more productive than most and Google continues to be a profitable and productive company churning out products and apps left and right.

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Kaleem
April 3, 2009 at 3:13 am

“Yet, their employees are probably more productive than most and Google continues to be a profitable and productive company”

I disagree with that. A company’s profitability can be one criteria to see employees productivity, but You cant pass verdict based on that. Marketing, Client base, Products vs Services, Internal Processes, All contribute to a company profitability.

Moreover, this study apparently denies some noticeable researches made by Joel (MS’s brain) and other bigs, about developers concentration on their work. May be, if you can take this study for marketing people, it can work, but I am doubtful for all kinds of Jobs.

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Guest
April 3, 2009 at 4:55 am

u r absolutely…right

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  Kishore
  April 3, 2009 at 5:13 am
  
  Yes, it may correct and I beleive this.
  
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Jiten
April 3, 2009 at 5:43 am

It might be correct that surfing at work increase productivity but at certain limit and it may not applicable to all sort of job.

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  Guest
  April 3, 2009 at 10:29 am
  
  This is covered by the study under “reasonable limits”.
  
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Sunny
April 3, 2009 at 5:54 am

I may not believe in this because, people who got addicted to internet are more than the one who are not.

So, this may have negative impact on productivity.

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Sean M. Severson
April 3, 2009 at 7:33 am

The findings of this report are nothing new. For years the work productivity experts have said that taking short breaks during the day, perhaps as often as every hour for about 10 minutes, helps workers focus and be more productiv.

Surfing is just one option. However, it would probably be more beneficial to step away from the computer, take a short walk, stretch-the-bones, get a drink of water (because dehydration is also a cause of lower productivity), or even (I know, this is a pretty wild idea) talk with a coworker…face to face.

I would argue that there is a big difference between surfing to find work-related information and watching videos on YouTube. If you want to check your personal e-mail and watch videos, do that on your own time. Even though you are taking a break from work, you should be engaged in activities that add value to your employer since they are still paying you.

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  Morris
  April 3, 2009 at 9:09 am
  
  Sean, you contradict yourself. A five minute break is a five minute break whether I surf the Internet or take a walk. If I speak with a co-worker for 5 minutes then I have killed 10 minutes of time (5 of mine and 5 of theirs). But I’m sure you meant to say talking to a co-worker face to fave about work or walking somewhere for work or getting a drink of water because I work at a water company and I need to check the quality of water.
  
  The simple trugh: if I’m surfing to find work-related information, I’m working and doing what my job requires (and pays) me to do; however, that has nothing to do with this survey. This survey relates more to people that think for a living while using the computer.
  
  As an engineer and programmer, I often take five minute breaks to surf for something of a personal nature that is on my mind at the moment. It removes the temporary clutter in my mind so I can get back on task.
  
  I also do the same thing when I’m at home except in reverse. I can find myself doing something on my own time when something from work pops into my head and I do some quick research and email the results to my office. It clears the work troubles from my mind and helps me relax again.
  
  But you have got me thinking….maybe my company should dock me for my five minute breaks at work and I should bill my company every time I think of something on my time. I’ll come out ahead everytime.
  
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    Guest
    April 3, 2009 at 11:31 am
    
    “But you have got me thinking….maybe my company should dock me for my five minute breaks at work and I should bill my company every time I think of something on my time. I’ll come out ahead everytime.”
    
    you got that right on the head!
    
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    Mike Devenney
    April 3, 2009 at 2:23 pm
    
    I happened to read this article because I get a daily email with links to interesting goings on throughout the tech industry. I feel more productive already!
    
    (Quoting the post above… and wandering a bit off topic while I do.)
    “I also do the same thing when I’m at home except in reverse. I can find myself doing something on my own time when something from work pops into my head and I do some quick research and email the results to my office. It clears the work troubles from my mind and helps me relax again.”
    
    AMEN, I carry a BlackJackII phone and the only reason I went for the added expense of the smartphone and unlimited data plan is that as a developer I don’t always have my best ideas while I’m sitting at my desk and helping support applications. Sometimes it’s in the car on the way into work/home from work, while watching my son play soccer, basketball, etc.., or even just before I go to bed at night (sometimes after retiring for the evening, much to my wife’s chagrin). Whenever it is I find that I need to capture the thought and make sure I can get to it when I’m back in the saddle the next day.
    
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Mel Pama
April 3, 2009 at 11:01 am

Hummm,

Something does not quite add up here. Let me see first you make yourself less productive by 20% ( 20% of the time you’re not working) and that makes you 9% more productive because of time of from work. At that rate why work at all, take one long break for the whole day and be 45% more productive. The statistics quoted in reality means that you must actually be 29% more productive (-20% + ? = 9%). This study is absurd since no causal relationship has been demonstrated and the shear fact of taking the measurement probably had a big inpact on the perceived increase in productivity. What’s magic about 20%, a nice convenient round number, but totally incongruous with the normal biological nature of work and fatique or distraction which causes loss of productivity.

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  Norm
  April 3, 2009 at 11:28 am
  
  Your assuming that all the time someone spends “working” is productive. If stepping away from my work for 5 min allows me to solve a problem in 10 min instead of 30. Then I’ve just increased my productivity. If I do this periodically throughout the day it adds up. Stretch that break out past 20 min and all gains are lost. So the take home is probably more along the lines of several short breaks throughout the day will increase productivity while long breaks won’t. Someone who causally surfs the internet at various points throughout the day is likely to fall into the first group.
  
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Guest
April 3, 2009 at 2:02 pm

@Mel, I think you missed the ending of the line, more productive by… 9% “than those who don’t [surf].” There’s your causal relationship.

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Guest
April 3, 2009 at 2:38 pm

So… +9% productivity, but -20% productivity for the time spend surfing?

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  KH
  April 3, 2009 at 4:23 pm
  
  the total net effect is 9% more productivity. Time is not equal to productivity as some bosses naively think.