LONDON (Reuters) – Employees who fritter time away on Facebook,
Twitter and other social media Web sites are costing British businesses
billions, new research suggests.
British employment website MyJobGroup.co.uk said it polled 1,000 British
workers and found that nearly six percent, or 2 million, of Britain's
34 million-strong workforce spent over an hour per day on social media
while at work, amounting to more than one eighth of their entire working
day.
"Our results clearly show that UK workers are spending increased time
whilst at work on social media networks, which, left unchecked, could
have negative repercussions on the productivity of many companies across
the country," Managing Director of Myjobgroup.co.uk Lee Fayer said in a
statement with the results of the survey.
MyJobGroup.co.uk said that work time lost on Facebook, Twitter and other
social media networks could potentially be costing Britain up to 14
billion pounds ($22.16 billion).
The research showed more than half of British workers (55 percent)
confessed to accessing social media profiles at work, with many spending
so much time friending, tweeting, adding photos and video, as well as
updating their profiles, that companies' productivity was suffering as a
result.
Despite the negative effects on the economy in the midst of a fragile
recovery, many workers polled were in denial about the ill-effects of
social media on their efficiency. Only 14 percent of respondents
admitted to being less productive as a result of social media and 10
percent even claimed social media had made them more productive.
What's more, there was still widespread resistance to banning access to
social networks at work, with over two thirds (68 percent) advocating
some form of access during working hours. Only one third wanted sites
like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube barred during work time,
demonstrating the growing importance of social media to the daily
routine and the widespread resistance to its access being limited.
"Whilst we're certainly not kill-joys, people spending over an hour per
day in work time on the likes of Facebook and Twitter are seriously
hampering companies' efforts to boost productivity, which is more
important than ever given the fragile state of our economy," Fayer said.
"Companies would do well to monitor use of social networking sites
during work hours and ensure that their employees are not abusing their
freedom of access to these sites."