August 06, 2010
Popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are costing UK businesses billions in lost productivity, new research suggests.
According to a selection of British employees, polled by employment website Myjobgroup.co.uk, more than 50% spend up to an hour a day surfing social media and networking sites, equivalent to 2million members of staff taking one eighth of their day off work.
Experts claim the subsequent cost to the economy is more than £14billion a year.
"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.
Despite evidence to the contrary, just 14% of respondents admitted to being less productive as a result of social media, while 10% even claimed it had improved their daily output.
Understandably, employees are highly reluctant to see access to social networking sites banned by their employers. 68% advocated some form of access during work hours, while only a third wanted access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others banned.
"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," Mr Fayer added.
"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."
