In Other News, Employees Spend 25 Percent of Work Time Reading Stupid Surveys
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 29, 2008 at 12:00 AM PT
Astonishing. The average prole spends more than 25 percent of his or her online time at work on personal activities. That’s the word from IT consultancy Voco, having apparently just discovered that the Internet, which essentially puts a concert hall, movie theater, TV, brokerage firm, shopping mall, garage sale and family/friend gathering on every employee desktop, can be–gasp–a distraction in the workplace.
Why, exactly, this is an issue in this age of “work-life balance” and ROWE (results-only work environment) isn’t exactly clear. As retail giant Best Buy (BBY) has proven, employee “presence” doesn’t always equate with “employee productivity.” Why shouldn’t workers be free to spend some personal time online at work if they’re meeting their goals?
Comments
The big problem with your concluding question is that the number one goal of many drones… er, office workers… is simply to be at their desks looking busy in order to keep those paychecks coming. One reads claims that big business is having to accommodate the more laid-back attitude of today’s budding young professionals, but don’t let anyone kid you: For most workers in this society, you either tow the company line or you’re out of a job. People might be talking about “work-life balance” and so on, but it will take another generation (if we’re lucky) to break the iron grip that greedy, shortsighted corporations have on the necks of the American worker.
Posted by Alan Sanders at September 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pmI’d be curious to see how we compare to other countries. I know a couple of people who were fired for using the web too much for their own time. But that may be a case of the company looking for an excuse to get rid of them. Otherwise, it seems like most organizations are tolerant of personal use.
Posted by Ken Okel at September 29th, 2008 at 5:51 am