Breaking news: Facebook wastes employees’ time
September 1, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Communication, HR Tech, In this week's e-newsletter - Tech, Latest News & Views
A new study proves (as if we needed it) that many employees spend a chunk of the work day on Facebook. But does that mean you should do anything about it?
On average, employees spend about 1.5% of their working hours updating, friending, messaging, etc., according to a new survey of office workers by Nucleus Research.
Some of the other findings, which may or may not come as much of a surprise:
- Nearly two-thirds of employed Facebook users go on the site during work
- Of that number, employees spend an average of 15 minutes a day on Facebook, and
- 87% of those who use Facebook at work can’t articulate a clear business reason for doing it.
Does this mean it’s time to cut off access to social networking sites once and for all? The folks at Nucleus recommend companies consider it, suggesting it could result in a 1.5% productivity gain.
Some employers take that road, while others allow employees to take those (on average) 15 minute breaks for themselves each day, arguing that short breaks can actually boost productivity.
What’s your company’s policy on Facebook? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tags: Facebook, Nucleus Research, productivity, social networking
September 1st, 2009 at 4:47 pm
We do actually allow accosicates to browse the web during their breaks (of course figuring out who’s on Facebook furing their break or not remains a challenge). We utilize Websense, internet filter software, and each associate has a personal bank of time per month to browse the web for personal reasons such as checking personal email and/or Facebook.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I am the HR Manager at a very small business (15 employees). After one of our employees spent 1/2 her day “building” her MySpace page, our IT Manager put a firewall block on My Space, FaceBook, etc. Now, when employees try to access these sites, they get a big black space of nothing.
Problem solved!
September 1st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
As H.R. Administrator here for C21 Lullo, we have no clear cut policy on FB; however, our sales agents do use it to “network”……BUT sometimes I do not know what type of “network” they mean…for business? increased sales? or “chatting”….and it’s not just FB. LinkedIn, Twitter, ActiveRain to name a few. No clear cut answer to this problem.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:31 pm
As a business owner, I use Facebook to know my employees better. Not everyone in our small business are on Facebook, but for those who are, I like knowing about their families and what is going on in their lives. As for 15 minutes a day of lost time – that’s not much and having worked for over 40 years myself in offices, warehouses and industrial companies, people have been “wasting” a little time here and there for ages. Rather than spending alot of time calling friends and family – they can post whatever is going on during any particular day and maybe read up on a few friends and then back to work. I’m not surprised and as an Employer – we should use this tool to our advantage to better know and understand our Employees. – Valerie R. Kelton, President, SMK Fabricators, Inc.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I PERSONALLY BELIEVE IT IS “NOT” PRODUCTIVE USE OF COMPANY TIME. PLUS HOW DO YOU MONITOR THE FACT THEY ARE ON ALL SOCIACLIZING WEB-SITES. WHEN DOES THE 15 MIN. YOU THINK THEY ARE VIEWING AND MESSAGING TURN INTO 20-30 OR MORE. THEN WHEN DO YOU MAKE THE DECISION TO SAY “NO” WHEN THEY COME TO YOU AFTER BEING ON THE INTERNET AND SAY, “I AM GOING ON A BREAK”. THIS IS THE ACTUAL BREAK YOU ARE REQUIRED TO GIVE. WHEN YOU SAY “NO” THEY REPORT YOU AS STATING, YOU WOULD NOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE THEIR REQUIRED BREAK. WHERE DO YOU GET THE DOCUMENTATION TO SHOW THE COURT THE TIME THEY USED TO SOCIALIZE ON LINE. HOW DO YOU PROVE IT ON PAPER. I AM PRESENTLY BLOCKING ALL SOCIALIZING WEB SITES FROM OUR COMPUTERS THROUGH OUR SECURITY SOFTWARE. IF THEY WANT TO GO ON THE WEB AND SOCIALIZE, MOST CAN DO THIS THROUGH THEIR PHONE, THEY CAN DO THIS AWAY FROM THEIR DESK ON THEIR BREAK.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
My company blocks FB, as well as sites like You Tube, Twitter and Google Reader. I find it annoying. I understand that they lose a little productivity from me, but really – I’d be happier and more productive if they trusted me to limit my time.
I’d like to think that they do so, not because of a lack of trust, but because of the financial constraints of the increased bandwith and network drain.
So what’s my suggestion? Treat your people like adults and allow for some personal time. I posit that it will lead to happier and more productive employees.
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:39 am
1.5% of their hours? 1.5% of an hour is 54 SECONDS. In a typical 8 hour workday you are talking about just over 7 minutes. If a company is so efficient that they need to focus on a productivity gain of 7 minutes throughout the day, then my hat is off to them. I would argue that efforts for improving productivity and efficiency should focus on larger gains. This isn’t to say that employees spending time on Facebook isn’t a problem, but I would expect an HR website to focus on larger issues.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:01 am
Like most restrictive company policies, they are there because of the abusers. If everyone acted like adults there would be no need to put the restrictions in place. This is no different than a thousand other situations that require a policy strictly because a small (and ever-growing) percentage of employees only understand the take side of give and take. I don’t like the restrictions either, but I see the abuse and the problems it causes. Not only is the abuser wasting time, the non-abusers know about the abuse and get irritated if the company doesn’t do anything about it. Putting the restrictions in place is the easiest solution, and it avoids having to put another page of useless, subjective language in your employee handbook.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:17 am
I’m the HR Manager of a company that has a little over 500 employees. We had to block access to all social networking websites because YouTube, in particular, was slowing down our system. We also had an incident that an employee got into a “cyber altercation” with someone on MySpace and that person contacted the company’s ISP. Needless to say, employees can put the company at legal risk. I highly recommend that companies should ban access to these sites.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
If an employee is spending an excessive amount of time on social networking sites, it is a management problem, not an IT problem in my opinion. Blocking everyone is over-kill. Do we want employees to block messages from the office, while they are at home, at lunch, on vacation? We are now living in a very “connected” world and we better learn to work with that situation and not against it, because employees will find a way around it. If you block Facebook on their company computers, they can pull their IPhone out and use it. Managers should manage their people and hold them accountable for doing their work and you won’t have to ask the IT department to do it for you.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:30 am
Just a simple question, how many of you are at work while reading these emails and this website?
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:59 am
We don’t block social networking sites. I’m not worried about a few minutes a day. I use it to communicate with my kids so we don’t have to make phone calls.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:20 am
Flip this around and put the shoe on the other foot. If the boss reduced your pay by 1.5% (I think that number is low) would you be cool with that?
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
Melissa,
If you are in HR than you must know this HR website is a tool to “learn” about “HR related issues”.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:26 am
The main issue is the legal ramifications – if comnpany property is used to make threats – the company will be on the hook.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:28 am
I recently attended a workshop about Change Management and he presented a Gallups study which stated that we only get about 4.8 hours of work out of our employees each day (and those are the ones engaged) so I really don’t think our business is losing any time with employees taking their breaks to go onto Facebook. If it’s not Facebook, it’s something else. If taken away they will simply find something else to fill that time with other than work. Our employees have actually become closer by networking with each other on Facebook – it’s built some additional teamwork mentality at the same site and with remote site employees as well.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:39 am
Nice to read all the responses…get a bigger picture of what everyone else is thinking. Of course, we DO ALL KNOW that ALL CAPS is “shouting”, right? ….oh, and nice simple question of when we were all responding! Touche’
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Years ago employees wasted work time taking smoke breaks, “water cooler” breaks and 3 martini lunches. Then we got computers and employees would get caught playing solitaire and mahjong. Then the internet became a big deal and employees would do their Christmas shopping online and visit chat sites. Now it’s Facebook. In other words there will always be a new and different way for employees to kill time. As long as an employee is producing good work and meeting all reasonable deadlines then they should be allowed down time whenever they need it. Most of us now spend quite a lot of our time off checking work email and answering work calls on our cells. It’s a technology tradeoff.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 am
I wonder what percentage of the day goes to smoke breaks. I’m willing to bet it’s more than 15 minutes a day. I’d rather my employees check their page or whatever 15 minutes a day than take 4 10 minute smoke breaks and return to the office smelling of smoke. I’m just saying.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
We do not monitor. We have a very open concept and treat employees like adults. We do not have scheduled breaks or lunches. We let the employees determine when it is the best time for them to break according to their job responsibiliites. So for an employee to stop during their day for 15 minutes and view the FB account is no big deal to us. We trust them to utilizie their time efficiently.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 am
We had to implement the block because there were a few how abused to freedom. Unfortunately, the 20 something’s think they have to be connected to their friends 24/7 so we do not allow cell phone use during work hours no FB, U-tube, MySpace… I actually had other employees complaining about working while others were on the endless phone calls and FBing.
We have smokers punch out for those breaks and others had the same option but since they were not we took the privilege away.
Heres a thought how about working while at work?
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
Susan E –
Does your copmpany consider your blogging “work”?
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
OOOOOooooooopps –
I meant to type company cot copmpany -
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 am
While I would love to treat all of my adult employees like adults, it seems more often than not to comes back and hit me like a boomerang. The old saying “you give an inch and they take a foot (or hang themselves)” is more often true than not. For lack of better words “relaxed” policies are often abused and that creates time consuming disciplining issues. Policies should be consistent and enforced. And the legal ramifications sadly are a true reality. The decision on what type of policy a company issues on this topic may be dependent on factors such as what type of industry/business you are running, the culture, number of employees, etc. My employer has a general “internet use policy agreement” that is signed by all employees that clearly states how an employee is permitted to use their coputer. I agree that we live in a new age and there’s no going backwards so we all need to learn how best to adapt and do what’s right for your individual situation.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
My employees were going on Face Book during their working hours, and then also taking a break away from their computers. When they told me they didn’t have enough time to do all of their work, we blocked all the social networks. They all have computers at home to do their socializing and now they are getting their work done. Enough said!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
I suspect there is very little business reason for most employees to be on FB, MS or other social sites during work hours. I am grateful they are blocked in our office as they should be. An employee can go to the library or home if they want their fix during the workday. I would suggest limiting personal phone calls as well but I know it’s tough to manage. An old firm I was with had us document any personal calls we made and pay for them if they turned out to be toll calls. This was fair in my mind and a disincentive to make the calls in the first place. If they choose to use their phones for the internet, I feel this should be added to the personal time policy as well such as limited to breaks and lunch. I am almost to the point we should limit internet access to specific business necessary sites but that might cause an uprising.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I would have to agree with KB & emerk from early this morning…10 minutes is not a problem…heck, people are on personal phones calls for 10 minutes, in addition to 10 minutes on Facebook. But if everyone acted like the adults they should, it would be 10 minutes & that would be it. Also agreeing with Cheetz, 10 minutes & that’s it is OK but instead employees get away with that and then push it to 20, 30 minutes, well that’s a problem. One year from now this newsletter is going to say “Research shows that employees are spending 3% of their work time on Facebook” and all of us HR people be more outraged and upset about it. I’m in HR & I’m on Facebook at work, but not for 1.5% of my day, because I’m an adult & I know my job responsibilities & I have control.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I am the office manager for a small printing company and the owner says as long as the job you are hired to do is done correctly and timely, we dont have an issue with the number of breaks or how you spend those breaks. If, however your job is suffering because of it … pack your things. Come on people! Did common sense, accountability, responsibility and dignity go so far away that there needs to be policies about this? sad sad sad!
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
We don’t yet have a policy, but we wouldn’t consider a small amount of time like this doing something that is not business related to be a problem. People need small breaks. Most people are going to socialize a little bit at work (with their co-workers) and take small breaks of some kind anyway. Facebook is just one way to grab a quick break before you get back at it. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand (isn’t abused) and work is getting done on time, mini-breaks can actually be beneficial.
I personally leave FB open in my browser most of the day and check in every 2 to 4 hours for a quick update. I don’t take a lunch break, so these quick checks are a small trade off and the company comes out ahead since most managers in our organization (I’m an HR Manager) take an hour or more for lunch. My preference is always to deal with the abusers of any privilege rather than to implement a harsh policy that penalizes your good and conscientious employees.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm
R.B –
I love the idea but – what about possible liability issues?
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I’m with R.B. As far as liability issues — as long as one is fair and consistent there are no problems. If we happen to hire an employee who acts like and needs to be treated like a child (our motto is “Hire Tough”), that child has a verbal warning, written, and then good bye. We are consistent and the employees know that we will follow through. Again, knowing what is expected is also knowing the consequeces. And the points that Michelle made of “common sense, accountability, responsibility and dignity” — that’s how we treat our employees and we expect the same in return. Be upfront, honest, and most importantly — have those critical conversations if need be.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm
While I understand the concept is to have more productive employees at work, you have to step back and realize the following as well: I would venture to say that 90% of us who have replied, just sat here and read every reply to the initial article, which took 10 minutes of my time at work. Each one of us were just simply clicking on a link to find out what others do in this situation, yet it took about the same amount of time that it would take our employees while they were on FB to update with their friends, collegues, contacts, etc.
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
No one has said anything about facebook and viruses. Even with shields and firewalls, it is a valid concern. We allow on line access, but after the second virus, facebook is off limits.
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
YOu can actually “network” for business on facebook. If in sales, facebook can be a useful tool to build relationships. Relationships turn into sales. Networking has it’s benefits.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:36 am
I agree that Facebook and other social networking sites can be used for business and sometimes even get you inspired, but, studies have shown that these are only 13% of cases. 87% of employees using Facebook at work couldn’t define a clear business reason for using it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:15 am
AMEN, “TE”!!! As I was reading it dawned on me that I had just spent approx 10 min reading & finding out how the “rest of the HR World” deals w/these probl’s. “Wasting time”? Quite a few policies, rules & regs come from how others handle things. Parenting’s done the same way. So, Melissa I say to you: This IS work.
Now, as I’m an HR/Payroll Mngr, I am very friendly w/empl & am very aware of internet concerns. I TOTALLY agree that ANY abuse is just that – abuse & s/be addressed by the mngr & directly to the abuser. EVERYONE should NOT be punished for some. If there are networking issues that’s another issue. Let’s be honest HR Reps: Like another responder said, it’s a lot easier to whip out my Sidekick and text my children (while they’re also @ wrk), & others that I might have to say something quick than to completely stop what I’m doing & call someone. It’s the same for FB & MS. !!
Lastly, 1 min of an HOUR? They take longer BATHROOM BREAKS!! “Mental stress” breaks are EXTREMELY beneficial during the wrk day. Would you rather deal w/astronomical co. phone bills & a couple arguing or a mom/dad fussing w/their children etc. & disturbing an entire office. I would rather see a PRODUCTIVE empl jump on & off FB than to hear my CFO AND Controller STOP work altogether DURING wrk hrs to talk baseball stats, movie and music trivia, give movie reviews, go out for numerous smoking breaks etc. and ALSO disrupt the ENTIRE work area!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
It might only be a few minutes a day but it adds up to over four days out of a year. Consider that not every employee is doing it so while one spends no time on FB, the person next to him/her then is on FB nearly two weeks out of a year. It starts to add up. We have not done anything but are considering it however, we also expect that our employees who are in critical positions check voice mail and email and basically be available 24X7. Since work spills over into home life, it is not unreasonable to expect the reverse to be true as well. But there has to be a limit. Looking at FB a few minutes a day to take a break and refresh is not what I’m worried about – its the people spending ALL day, to th exclusion of all else. So what happens? That person ruins it for everyone.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
No — That is our point, making each individual accountable for THEIR actions. If there is an employee who is abusing it, a critical conversation needs to be had, disciplinary process followed, and if need be dismissal. Those who are following the rules will have much more respect and trust in management if we walk the talk that we preach.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The funny thing is…as I’m reading these blogs, the same names keep coming up in the responses…who is monitoring your time?
September 9th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Interesting replies…. I do not believe the 1.5% of time spent on social networking sites… I believe the time spent is much greater than that. We, too had employees that built their personal sites and even personal side jobs sites while at work. We also blocked the use of social networking sites through our IT department for a while. Now, I am seeing that many employees even if they are not in sales are using the sites again for “networking purposes”. I am even getting invitations to join their network during business hours.
Our labor expenses last year were almost 1 million $$$$. I would love to be able to use the small percentage of 1.5% to increase our health insurance contribution or add it to the bottom line.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I tell you what…it takes me a LOT longer to check it on my phone than it does the website itself, so my company has actually lost MORE productive work time because I still check it…just not on their computer! Before I would spend maybe 10-15 minutes a day on it, now it’s probably 20-30 minutes because of the loading time on my phone browser.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I check my Facebook periodically throughout the day. I connected with a friend 2 weeks ago that I haven’t seen or heard from in over 15 years. She happens to be the CFO at a major hospital in my state now. We signed them up as a new client last Friday, bringing in about $90,000 in new revenue per year over a 7 year agreement. I helped make the company $630,000 through Facebook.
My boss now makes sure I check my FB each day.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:11 am
It is ironic that this is a bulliten-board and so considered “social networking”. I have to say I have not once seen the number of responses poseted as to this question. As the IT manager at my firm but someone who rose from the ranks of productin to the world of “managment” I see this issue from both sides. Policy says “no” but who listens to policy, right?
When I started as MIS 16 years ago my boss was amazed that Windows was sold with GAMES on it and demanded they all be removed. I refused and explained that they were like a smoke-break for the eyes; people would stop, play a hand, and resume work never leaving their desks. With FB (which somehow fails to get blocked by my auto-filter) they leave it up all day in the background. IM-ing and updateing throughout the day. The trend is sloping towards this becoming a business tool for HR, Marketing of businesses, posting individuals’ resumes. As markets get tighter, we are all looking for some new edge. This tool has two and cuts both ways.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I disagree with Valerie’s point as a busness owner she uses Facebook to get toknow her employees better. Rather than surf Facebook to find out, you wuld get a more information and greater impact by asking them yourself. Too much time for Twitter, Facebook etc and not enough time in meaningful exchanges.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Carla –
You should very well know that asking an employee face to face in the work place will elicit a very different response than she will get popping in and out of Facebook chats. Also, Facebook can be used from home which allows more work to get done at work – rather than asking about an employees children or what they did on the weekend.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 am
It sounds like Ed wants access to Facebook. How did he deal with his employees before Facebook?
I personally like to actually talk and listen to my employees. If you don’t get the truth from them in all matters, then I guess you don’t have a good rapport with them.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:38 am
It sounds like connie is under the delusion that employees act and think the same at work as they do at home. Or that they would talk as openly at work as they would in a completly different setting.
You bet connie – set an employee down in a chair on the other side of your desk and get a discussion that is truly free from any influence of the work place.
I never said that I would prefer that be the only means of communication – but an additional avenue that could remove the chains of influence from the work place.
Connie – you might want to step out of that dream world (and technology empty at that) and into reality. Please realize that tomorrow’s work force will be the poeple that made Facebook, MySpace etc. . . into the billion dollar industry that they are. So they will be even less comfortable with face to face interaction than today’s workforce.