Australian Study Says Web Surfing Boosts Office Productivity 173
Hugh Pickens writes "Dr Brent Coker, professor of Department of Management and Marketing at Melbourne University, says employees who surf the internet for leisure during working hours are more productive than those who don't. A study of 300 office workers found 70 percent of people who use the internet at work engage in Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB). 'People who do surf the internet for fun at work — within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office — are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't,' said Coker. 'People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture — after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored. It's the same in the workplace.' However, Coker warns that excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect."
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sure (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure my boss is going to be thrilled since he's looking over my shoulder reading this page as I type comments instead of doing my work.
Switch to surfing porn. It will make him even happier!
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My last boss only got upset if we didn't share the good porn with him.
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I have a strange feeling tree pussy doesn't mean what I think it does.
Re:Sure (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sure (Score:5, Funny)
Everybody who works from home?
Re:Sure (Score:5, Funny)
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive. Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
I can't say it's exactly 'authorized' but no one stops me when I roll under the desk and take a quick rest. Mostly they laugh.
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Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
Just close the door to your office and lock it. If you're woken by knocking or telephone, you have a moment to gather your composure before opening the door. It works for me!
What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
Re:Sure (Score:5, Funny)
What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
Sheer luxury mate. I work in a hole in the road, it's a twenty mile commute on foot in the dark and thirty back. My father fed me stone cold poison and killed me every morning before work.
But can ye get the lads to believe you these days? Noooooo.....
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Sheer luxury mate. I work in a hole in the road, it's a twenty mile commute on foot in the dark and thirty back. My father fed me stone cold poison and killed me every morning before work. But can ye get the lads to believe you these days? Noooooo.....
We were evicted from our hole. We had to live in a shoebox in the middle of the road. Every morning we'd lick the road clean with our tongues, drink a half cup of hydrochloric acid, and our father would slice us in two with a bread knife and sing glory hallelujah.
http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four_yorkshiremen.htm [phespirit.info]
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What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
No, I share one with 3 other people.
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What? You labour in an open-topped fabric-covered doorless half-height cube? Good god, that's barbaric!
It is, it's terrible. It's also pretty dang good for communication, I've worked in an office before and I hated it. What, you prefer to rely on email or IM (or intercom, yuck) for *all* the times you need to say "hey bob, could you check in foozballwidget.dll please?" Unless you have the luxury of being the sole maintainer of a system, your job probably requires you to frequently talk to people, which is easier of you have LoS on most of the office.
and the converse may also be true (Score:5, Funny)
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive.
My wife and I work in the same department, and occasionally take a "nap" together in a spare office. Curiously, this seems to reduce the productivity of our colleagues, who often look annoyed after our "nap".
Re:and the converse may also be true (Score:5, Funny)
...and there are studies that say a short nap during the workday make people more productive.
My wife and I work in the same department, and occasionally take a "nap" together in a spare office. Curiously, this seems to reduce the productivity of our colleagues, who often look annoyed after our "nap".
Damn right, we're annoyed. Those "offices" may have real doors, but they only have fabric walls...
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Wife and I work in same department but were chided because we don't bicker or act like we're married. What's wrong with a cold, joyless relationship?
Re:Sure (Score:5, Funny)
Now who here has an authorized nap time at work?
I do. That is, I effectively do.
Ok, you want the truth? Nobody knows the difference.
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Move to Spain.
Take a couple of hours off for lunch, every day.
And yet other EU colleagues want them to work 9-5 :(
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Re:Nap! (Score:2)
It absolutely does, and the lack of easy facilities for this probably hits out GNP.
But Most places are required to give you a half hour (even unpaid) break, so just take your car and leave, and master the 25-min nap.
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I worked in a place with authorised nap-time. By "authorised", I mean nobody told the boss.
Yup... (Score:4, Funny)
I'm increasing my productivity right now!
Too busy to be first post (Score:2)
In other news.. (Score:5, Funny)
"Australian researcher's lab shut down by MPAA."
Hurray! I've been saying this for years! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hurray! I've been saying this for years! (Score:4, Funny)
Posting anon because the wife reads slashdot.
Re:Hurray! I've been saying this for years! (Score:4, Interesting)
You do know people can bring their own lunch to work and not have to forage? It saves bundles of money for the person and they know exactly what they're having. This also allows them more time to surf the web at lunch or maybe go out and have a walk around the building or get a quickie around the corner.
I realize this is a simple solution so obviously you're a programmer! (j/k)
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I've done both. Believe me, the people who get stressed out by "foraging" will get at least twice as stressed out trying to find time to throw together lunch to take along. Sure it's no big deal for the morning people who get up an hour before they need to, but for the night-owl types, there is never a good time to pack a lunch.
The only time I pack a lunch is when I'm *really* short on funds. Most of the time I'd rather pay 4x as much and eat unhealthy food that I can pick up over lunch.
Re:Hurray! I've been saying this for years! (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You will need:
Two packets of Indo Mie mi goreng
Two eggs
A medium-sized onion
A tomato
A small can of mushrooms in butter sauce
Whatever else is in the fridge
Butter
Heat a small pot, add about 1/2 Tbsp butter. Crack two eggs into the pot and scramble. When eggs are mostly solid, add chopped onion and tomato, along with
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No wonder you feel like a lethargic slug.
I believe it (Score:5, Interesting)
I bet a little web surfing keeps one from getting "too bored". A recent article in the same vein said that doodling helps people pay attention--I don't recall whether that one made slashdot.
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It did.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Surfing during work? (Score:4, Funny)
Hmm... gotta get back, done compiling.
Re:Surfing during work? (Score:5, Funny)
Another aspect... (Score:5, Insightful)
Depending on what the employee is viewing, it is also an opportunity to LEARN something.
My wife regularly surfs the web at work, often news, and consistently finds stories that directly effect the industry she works in, sometimes her actual place of employment. She then brings this information to the people she works for, the people that need to know about it.
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When I first graduated and got my first job, during down times I would read up on multi-threading and database optimizations because it was interesting. As new projects have come up, I have applied what I learned to make some code go from minutes to seconds with correct results.
Many times I get stuck on something and I just open up my favorite game forum and veg for 2-3 minutes. It's enough time to usually come back and view my problem a-new and figure it out.
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My wife regularly surfs the web at work, often news, and consistently finds stories that directly effect the industry she works in, sometimes her actual place of employment. She then brings this information to the people she works for, the people that need to know about it.
All joking aside, I've gotten a lot of that out of Slashdot. I've rolled out quite a few technologies at work that I might not have heard of were it not for people here arguing about which implementation was best.
On the intangible side, there's much to be said for practicing making your points clearly and succinctly, and for learning to anticipate counter-arguments and answer them before anyone else brings them up. Debate team has nothing on a good language war.
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Ciggy Break (Score:5, Insightful)
If taking a cigarette break, coffee break or gossip break is allowed, I cannot see any difference in internet break or game break.
Re:Ciggy Break (Score:5, Funny)
I smoke, have a caffeine addiction, love to gossip, play games, AND surf the internet, you insensitive clod!
I spend just under 20% of my billable time each day on each activity... I work about 20 minutes a day, just enough time to make sure the lackeys are doing my work for me.
What? Isn't that the American dream?
Re:Ciggy Break (Score:4, Funny)
I spend just under 20% of my billable time each day on each activity..
According to this study, that makes you about 63% more productive than other office workers, NICE JOB!!
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My math shows 54% more productive (1.09^5).
:)
Not only am I more productive, apparently I am more accurate too
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Although, maybe I can convince you that I was allowing for the unmentioned 'bathroom breaks'?? No??
Ok, you're right, I can't count.....multiply, yes.....count, no.
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Ironic (Score:3, Funny)
Do these effects..... (Score:4, Funny)
.... also include surfing for pron?
25%? (Score:5, Interesting)
Some source was quoted in the Newsweek I was reading the other day as saying that 25% of people view internet porn at work.
(This surprised me. Slashdot? Sure. Wikipedia? Definitely. Porn? That's just stupid.)
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Counter-arguments (Score:2)
Bludging? (Score:3, Informative)
Workplace web bludging 'good for productivity'
allwords.com [allwords.com] tells me that "to bludge" is to avoid responsibility. What a great word. Is it used outside Australia?
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Bludge != procrastinate
When you bludge, you are not necessarily putting anything off. You could just be relying on others to do the work for you. That's not exactly procrastination.
Bludging is an activity (or lack thereof) one could undertake while procrastinating, but so is running round like a headless chook. Bludging is more about piss-farting around on someone else's time or resources. For example, dole bludgers don't procastinate. Clear?
Productivity personified (Score:5, Insightful)
I am so asking for a raise.
More studies needed (Score:4, Funny)
We need to commission studies that look at increases in productivity for the following activities during work time:
1) Games and gaming at work
2) Consumption of alcohol at work
3) Coming to work in casual clothes - the more casual the better - think underwear and curry stained shirt
4) Workplace sex
Re:More studies needed (Score:4, Funny)
Sure, your productivity may improve -- but what abot everyone else in the office who is too busy cleaning vomit out of their keyboards to get work done?
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Ditto.
where's the correlationisnotcausation tag? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:where's the correlationisnotcausation tag? (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly what I was going to say...
Seems that when a study slashdotters don't agree with (video games "boost" teen violence), we get a huge amount of "correlation != causation" posts and tags. When it's a study that slashdotters agree with or like (visiting slashdot during work improves your performance; don't feel guilty!), we're a little bit more lax on the fact that it's just as guilty of faulty logic, typical statistics, etc...
I'm sure I'm pointing out the obvious, but seems not many others have yet, so :)
Re: (Score:2)
Seems that when a study slashdotters don't agree with (video games "boost" teen violence), we get a huge amount of "correlation != causation" posts and tags. When it's a study that slashdotters agree with or like (visiting slashdot during work improves your performance; don't feel guilty!), we're a little bit more lax on the fact that it's just as guilty of faulty logic, typical statistics, etc...
Damnit I don't care how bogus the statistics are! If it justifies what I do at work all day anyway, I'm gonna take it as gospel proof until my boss comes back with a refutation in Science.
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Without looking at the study, I'd say there's a mix of reasons for this.
One, if you actually need to concentrate on your work, a distraction every once in a while can be (and usually is) helpful, if your brain simply isn't working the way you want it to.
Two, people who take the 'internet breaks' likely spend a lot of their day simply thinking, anyway. People who don't surf the web, probably can't: their work is very linear, boring, work, but not something that they could not conceivably accomplish at a fixe
Good to Know (Score:3, Funny)
I don't approve of WILB. (Score:2)
"Hey Tony, I need you to collate those TPS reports."
"Yeah sure boss. Right after I get done wibbling a bit."
Happy = Productive (Score:4, Interesting)
Plus, so many jobs now expect you to be working to some extent while you're at home (checking email, etc). If an employer wants an employee to work while at home, then it's reasonable for the employee to do some personal web surfing at work.
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I think this should be filed under the general maxim that happier workers are, generally, more productive workers.
I think the current maxim is that the more scared workers are, generally, the more productive workers. Nothing more motivational than lax job security.
Another possible conclusion: (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps people who browse the web at work are _more comfortable with_ and _more knowledgeable about_ computers in general, than people who don't browse the internet at work. I've seen many users who are clueless about computers wasting time by using their computers badly, unproductively, or not at all.
If you can't use a spreadsheet, chances are you don't 'get' the internet. I'm wondering if perhaps the study is drawing the wrong conclusion. Perhaps internet browsing isn't the 'cure', but a healthy symptom indicating a better affinity to computers.
Amen! (Score:2)
If I find another person using a calculator and "plugging in" the answers in Excel I don't know what I will do!
spreadsheet? (Score:2)
I'm a software engineer and I've used a spreadsheet maybe 5 times in my life. I hate to sound like Bender here, but most everything in life is a degenerative form of programming, especially spreadsheets.
Logfile integrity (Score:2)
Correlation != causation (Score:5, Interesting)
I would suggest that rather than websurfing increasing productivity, people tend to leave authoritarian employers who disallow websurving, productive people having more ability to move.
CorrelationIsNotCausation (Score:4, Insightful)
It may be that bright-minded, sharp, intelligent, high mental-energy, people are already prone to being more productive, and that searching for ideas and information is just part of their wiring. Of course the information and stimulation help feed the process. OK, back to work...
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personal project time (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a boss that would have balked at the 20% figure. He believed (and told us as much) that you were wasting company time and money if you were anything less than 100% engaged in your work. He was, however, always interested in boosting productivity any way possible, so when someone brought up Google's "personal project time" policy (Google was the rockstar of the Internet then, even moreso than now), he wanted to try it. Once we started seriously discussing it, though, the boss killed the idea by proclaiming that the personal project time would be in addition to, not replacing your normal 8-hour day. That means you either had to come in early, stay late, or come in on a weekend. And it wouldn't count as overtime either. That pretty much killed all interest.
(Posting this at work, from my new job.)
Too busy to work (Score:2)
Anyway, gotta go, it's nearly time for another break.
Reminded of The Office (Score:2, Insightful)
From Michael Scott, "Jim Halpert. Pros. Smart, cool, good looking. Remind you of anyone you know? Cons. Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project and he can finish the same project in a half an hour. So that should tell you something."
Anecdotally, I am more inclined to believe that people who are more productive can slack off more. At my previous job, I would often do more work than my colleague and still found plenty of time to slack off, because I knew how to do the work quickly and correctly.
20% minus 10% is what? (Score:3, Insightful)
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What counts (Score:2)
is if you get your work done. This is influenced by a lot of factors. But in the end you Boss should not need to analyse your Web usage to determine if you do a good job. If he needs, he is not the right man for the job.
Re:Sounds like the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
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There are too many variables to apply this to a large company via IT and web filtering. If I see that my sales person was doing fantasy football for 8 hours non stop each day, then I report that to his manager.
If the sales guy is making his sales, then it's "who cares." If he's not, then appropriate actions can be taken.
What about my shop staff or house keeping? They can't possibly be repairing vehicles or cleaning if they are on Fantasy Football 8 hours a day.
Too many variables to say it boosts produ
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What about my shop staff or house keeping? They can't possibly be repairing vehicles or cleaning if they are on Fantasy Football 8 hours a day.
I know nobody reads the articles, and some people don't even read the summaries, but it'd be nice if people would read at least the headline. "Office" is right there.
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8 hours of surfing would be a BIT more than 20% of their work day...
They were also talking about office workers. Generally, cleaning and vehicle repair aren't considered office work.
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Re:Sounds like the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
Knowledge work is entirely different from manufacturing type work. The relationship between actual production and hours-spent is very weak. We aren't screwing on hubcaps; we have to coax the glob of meat between our ears to cooperate.
Where I work, there are managers who (incompetently) think knowledge workers should be managed like factory workers. These chumps have extremely high turnover, and their employees seem defensive and stressed most of the time. One such manager constantly monitors his employee's internet usage, and fires all of those who visit non-work-related web sites.
If you have an incompetent manager who thinks he's running a factory, browse anyway. You really should be happy if you get fired for moderate web use, because you will be miserable trying to build a career under such a buffoon, anyway.
Re:Sounds like the opposite (Score:5, Interesting)
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I worked for a company like this. Or actually I still work for them. Their problem was that they *were* running a factory. They just made the mistake of treating their office workers the same way as their factory workers.
So when I got sick of working in that environment, and told them where they could shove their industrial-economy employee regulatory scheme, they fired me. I refused their severance offer, along with any help in training a replacement. Now they pay me more money to do the same work fro
Obligatory xkcd comic (Score:5, Funny)
Compiling [xkcd.com].
Re:20% is reasonable? (Score:4, Insightful)
They just said that 20% of your paid time, doing something other than what they are paying you to do, is reasonable? Would a company paying you 20% less all of the sudden be reasonable? If you are getting paid, STFU and get the work done. If there's no work to do, clock out and go home.
Well according to this study, the people who offend you so much get more done than the people who don't.
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Not everyone is on a timeclock.
Re:20% is reasonable? (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems the corporate system is designed this way though. At most companies I've been paid a straight salary with no overtime and either no bonus or a possible 5% bonus based on how well I've been able to project a productive air to my manager.
So where's the incentive to work harder? When we kick ass and do well as a company, I rarely see an extra cent. When we do poorly as a company I still get paid exactly the same. True I have the possibility of getting laid off but everyone faces the same possibility and generally the axe doesn't fall on me because I do a perfectly OK job. I'd love to be encouraged to work harder with profit sharing or the like but few companies do this.
It seems there are much better models to encourage productivity and I have no idea why most companies don't adopt them.
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Fortunately, as a student, I still have options before I have to start looking for a job to actually survive on it.
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Probably because the guy who makes those decisions is also doing the bare minimum to get by.
BTW- I'm in the same boat. I work just hard enough to be slightly better than half of my peers (call it a security blanket against being laid off). This affords me the luxury of watching Orb/Hulu/ProjectFreeTV for the entirety of my workday, frequent coffee and cig breaks and minimal responsibilities, in addition to ample time to poke around and play with pretty much whatever to see how it works. Conversely, my cl
Re:20% is reasonable? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, so you're company pays you to sit at your desk for 40 hours a week? Or does your company pay you to get a weeks worth of work done in a week?
If you're being logical about it, working for 32 hours and getting 44 hours of work done is still better than working 40 hours and getting 40 hours of work done; which is what the article is saying. One of the biggest problems I have with the world in general is people doing what seems right instead of applying logic to the situation.
Re:20% is reasonable? (Score:4, Insightful)
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They just said that 20% of your paid time, doing something other than what they are paying you to do, is reasonable? Would a company paying you 20% less all of the sudden be reasonable? If you are getting paid, STFU and get the work done. If there's no work to do, clock out and go home.
No, they said that people who spend 20% of their work time browsing the internet do 9% more work overall than people who don't browse the internet during work time.
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Yes, it does seem to be a tag productivity issue. I'd address it myself, but it's late and I'm calling it a day.
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100% identical! +1
It's similar to eating a week's worth of food in 1 day and not eating for the other 6 days...
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Awesome suggestion. I think though in lieu of that I would rather go purchase a 12-gauge shotgun and blow my brains out.
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Actually I believe in most states in the US it's law for companies to provide 10 minutes of paid break per 4 hours of labor.