Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It'll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.
The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.
Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing, or WILB, helped to sharpened workers' concentration”.
"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," Coker said on the university's website.
"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.
According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.
Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.
"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case."
However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.
"Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," he said.
參考譯文:
上班時上Twitter或Facebook網(wǎng)被撞見?這會讓你成為一個更優(yōu)秀的員工。澳大利亞一項研究表明,上班時上網(wǎng)娛樂能夠提高工作效率。
這項由墨爾本大學(xué)開展的研究顯示,上班時因個人原因上網(wǎng)的人的工作效率比不上網(wǎng)的人高出9%。
研究負(fù)責(zé)人、墨爾本大學(xué)管理和營銷系的布蘭特•科克說:“工作時的網(wǎng)絡(luò)休閑(WILB)”有助于集中員工的注意力。
科克在發(fā)表于該大學(xué)網(wǎng)站的研究報告稱:“人們需要開個小差來重新集中他們的注意力。”
他說:“短時間且無傷大雅的休息,如迅速瀏覽網(wǎng)頁,可以讓大腦得到放松,讓人精力更加集中地完成一天的工作,并最終提高工作效率。”
在受訪的300名員工中,有70%的人稱自己在上班時會上網(wǎng)休閑。
其中最常見的網(wǎng)絡(luò)休閑活動包括查詢產(chǎn)品信息、瀏覽新聞網(wǎng)站、玩網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲以及在YouTube上觀看視頻等。
科克說:“一些公司花費數(shù)百萬購置監(jiān)控軟件,防止員工看視頻、上社交網(wǎng)站或在線購物。以為這樣可以彌補(bǔ)生產(chǎn)效率低下造成的巨大損失,但事實并非如此。”
但科克指出,該研究調(diào)查的是適度上網(wǎng)、或上網(wǎng)時間不到總工時20%的人。
他說:“那些上網(wǎng)成癮的人的工作效率自然要低于其他人。”