There was a time when businesses only used “The Interwebs” for email (no, seriously). And everything else on the web was seen simply as “distractions” from the job at hand. (LOLCats, FTW!)
Since then, the Internet has developed into an integral part of doing business all over the world. Yet, despite that achievement, the myth still persists that employees spend too much time on social networks and websites that aren’t work-related, costing companies valuable productivity.
But do they really? Is the Internet really the biggest waste of an employee’s time? The folks at Salary.com wanted to find out, so they surveyed more than 3,200 people and the results were enlightening — only 18% of respondents listed the Internet as a major waster of time (other research suggests it might be as low as 14%).
Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are not really big time-wasters compared to the rest of the list. So blocking social sites during work hours are just lowering morale, scaring off qualified applicants, and causing employees to leave.
By far, the biggest waste of time was…wait for it…having to attend too many meetings. Yes, according to 47% of respondents, sitting in pointless, conference room “get-togethers” cost their company the most productivity.
The second largest time-waster was dealing with office politics (43%), then came fixing other peoples’ mistakes (37%), coping with annoying coworkers (36%), busy work (22%), and returning work emails (20%). Notably, dealing with bosses came in dead last at a mere 14%.
Ironically, you can reduce a lot of these productivity-sapping problems by using Enterprise Social Networking (that’s the internal, private, and secure kind).
The Enterprise Social Network, tibbr, has apps like tibbr Tasks that lets managers and employees always know the current status of projects, eliminating the need for frequent meetings. User Analytics show managers exactly who’s doing the real work, so playing office politics is pointless. Seamless communication means people don’t need face-time with annoying coworkers. And Facebook-style conversations drastically cut down on the amount of email choking your inbox.
In this day and age, when computers and mobile devices are a critical business tool, companies that blame the Internet for lost productivity are barking up the wrong tree.
Speaking of which, have you seen that video of that dog barking up the tree? No?! Well, watch it…you know, after work hours.
