Are Web Surfers Better Employees?

At a previous employer, one of the sales team working the phones caused consternation for my colleagues managing her. This young woman spent most of her day running YouTube videos on her screen. Her apparent deficit in work ethic could have led to corrective action -- until her managers tallied up the month's sales and discovered that their video jockey was also their top performer.

There are legal and technical reasons for companies to limit extracurricular use of the Web, such as surfing sites that violate HR policy or clog corporate networks. When it comes to workplace productivity, however, employees might have cause to argue that loosening restrictions on internet use will actually improve their performance.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, today, a recent study by the National University of Singapore suggests that Web breaks boost the productivity of fatigued employees more than other activities such as making personal phone calls.

Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G Lim presented the study, titled "Impact of Cyberloafing on Psychological Engagement," last week in San Antonio, Texas, at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management.

"The researchers conducted two studies," the Journal reports. "In the first, they assigned 96 undergraduate management students into one of three groups--a control group, a 'rest-break' group and a Web-surfing group. All subjects spent 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e's as they could find in a sample text. For the next 10 minutes, the control group was assigned another simple task; members of the rest-break group could do whatever they pleased, except surf the Internet; and the third group could browse the Web. Afterward, all of the subjects spent another 10 minutes highlighting more letters.

"The researchers found that the Web-surfers were significantly more productive and effective at the tasks than those in the other two groups and reported lower levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and higher levels of engagement."

Bottom line: Like my young colleague in sales, keep your eye on your overall productivity. And if you're delivering superior value to a company that's restrictive about Web use, maybe it's time to show them this post and suggest they let results speak for themselves.