19 / Does a Little Slacking Off... Pay Off?
14 February 2012
First of all, we’re not referring to the ‘slacking off’ mentality that breeds laziness or apathy towards a job. For the sake of this insight, let’s define ‘slacking’ as giving some slack; decreasing the intensity with which you go about a daily task. Flexibility can be another way to put it.
At first, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were seen as nothing more than arenas for personal entertainment. However, since businesses are now so heavily reliant on social media for marketing, PR and communications, individual users have also seen that the benefits of greater connectivity reach further than owning a virtual farm or ‘poking’ people!
Studies are showing that a small measure of slacking off on the job by way of social networking actually has a healthy affect on many workers. The daily grind can get incredibly taxing on a person’s mental state, affecting their motivation and morale. Leaving your computer for a quick chat with a co-worker has been proven to increase productivity, enthusiasm and drive. And in the same way, having a quick scan of social media sites has been proven to increase morale and allow that small moment of escape or relief from a particularly demanding task.
There has been much debate regarding the use of social media sites during work hours and opinions are greatly divided. According to a study run by Nucleus Research, the use of Facebook causes a 1.5 per cent decrease in employee productivity. This figure however, was extrapolated from a very small study of only two hundred and thirty seven office workers. It did not take into consideration the kind of jobs they were doing, their work environments and whether or not they were distracted by other factors – such as chatting with colleagues or checking personal email.
A similar study conducted by the University of Melbourne surveyed a random sample of three hundred office workers and came to the opposite conclusion. Dr Brent Coker, who conducted the survey, found that “people who took small breaks between tasks were 9 per cent more productive than colleagues who did not”. This is due to the fact that the human mind cannot stay focussed on one job for an extended amount of time without wavering. A small break allows the brain to reset its concentration. The absence of short breaks results in the brain switching to auto pilot – where our problem solving skills, lateral thinking and creativity shuts down.
What Facebook provides is a window to the outside world of friends, family and social connectivity. It can be incredibly motivating to see a funny post from a friend and go back to your work with a smile on your face. Of course, this pales in comparison to real human contact as a face-to-face chat with someone is far more effective and also acts as a break away from one’s computer. But if that is not always on offer, social media can be a good alternative and is especially beneficial to those that work in isolated environments or process-driven roles. It is, however, not suitable to those prone to procrastination and there is a danger in becoming too distracted. Clearly some guidelines need to be in place.
Some companies have responded to the growth of social networking by blocking these sites on company computers. This Draconian reaction is ultimately useless and counterproductive. People have access to these sites via their mobile phones, they should be entitled to access during their lunch breaks when they are not on company time, and the company also loses the opportunity to utilise social media as a viable platform for networking.
Other companies are at the opposite end of the scale and have no social media policy in place, which is irresponsible and opens the company up to privacy issues, misuse and legal cases against employees.
Evidently businesses need to take some action in regulating the use of social networking within the workplace and also put in place a policy on what is appropriate and what is not. A smart solution that is increasing in popularity at the moment is the use of reporting software that can monitor how long an employee spends on sites such as Facebook. If the time spent is more than the amount agreed upon in policy, the employee needs to be counselled.
This software can be costly and depending on the business itself, a much easier preventative measure can be taken. Instead of blocking sites and risking a ‘watch-dog’ environment where staff feel trapped and monitored, reward employees who perform their jobs well and discipline those who don’t. This is a simple and effective way to stimulate productivity whilst giving employees the freedom to cut themselves enough slack to stay motivated.
