Is an open internet access a productivity killer at the workplace?

Question

I hear about workplaces banning sites like Facebook, or Twitter, all in the name of productivity gain.

Has there been any studies showing any evidence that having full access to browse the web at work a potential productivity killer?

Answer 1

You can probably just toss my post out as anecdotal, but I think I have something important to add.

This is a common system and network administrator's dilemma, and has been discussed among them for as long as there's been internet access at work, and managers that wanted to control it.

The problem boils down to whether this is a social problem or a technical problem. Is it technically possible to block access to a particular site? Yes. Does that mean that employees therefore have no access to that particular site? No. If you say, block Facebook at your firewall, that doesn't mean that a single technically-savvy employee can't set up a proxy server on their home computer and give out access to it by writing down its IP address on a post-it for his friends. Employees can also get around these filters by having data plans on their smart phones or with a wireless USB stick from their cell providers.

And that doesn't even cover the kind of screwing around that happens offline.

The basic problem that the manager faces is a loss of productivity. If productivity can actually be measured, then it should be, and it should be monitored. Regardless of the cause, exceptional productivity should be rewarded and poor productivity should be punished. Then, regardless of the means of wasting time and productivity, regardless of the time "wasted", the employees themselves are the ones filtering their own internet consumption habits (or telephone calls, or faxes, or time spent -ahem- in the storeroom). Just as importantly, it shouldn't matter how the employee achieves that productivity. It's not at all uncommon for highly productive employees to produce high quality work in spite of the fact that they spend lots of time apparently not working. Salespeople often create better sales contacts at the bar than they do on the phone at work. CEOs often create better business opportunities on golf courses than they do in boardrooms. Programmers often get better ideas in the shower than sitting at their computers. Mechanics can find better solutions to problems on community forums run and populated by amateur enthusiasts, than they can get on official company websites. And so on.

The moral of my story is that content filtering doesn't matter. What people do with the internet, and the results they get from it, do. Does internet access improve productivity? You bet it does. Does it hinder it? Perhaps, but only for those employees who would rather be screwing around while getting paid in the first place. It's the manager's job to ensure that employees are working at their most efficient. If that means looking over their shoulders to make sure they're not watching porn, then so be it. If anything, that's the only thing that's ever worked.

Answer 2

It's not that obvious. "PopCap Break" 2008 report (original site doesn't exist anymore) suggests that:

(... personal internet use in the workplace ...) is far from distracting employees from their work, taking a 10-minute online break during the course of the working day serves to reduce stress while sharpening and refocusing the mind.

Dr Chamorro-Premuzic comments:

“The report proves that a ten minute e-break a day can have significant benefits but, despite this, many bosses are banning them in the fear that they distract employees. By factoring in a dedicated slot for an e-break bosses are fostering a more trusting working environment, boosting productivity and ultimately increasing their profit which surely makes good business sense.”