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Information technology makes life easier. You can rant on Twitter®. Share photos on Facebook™. Read books on your Kindle™. Unearth facts on Google®. Watch SNL episodes on Hulu™. Plan trips on your iPhone™. All from the comfort of your home—or your cubicle.
These days, you can do just about any tech task you might normally do at home, at the office. A new generation of consumer technology products has made information a readily accessible commodity that flows faster, farther and with greater ease than ever before.
But is that always a good thing? After all, if you're at the office catching up on Justin Bieber music videos on YouTube℠, you can't possibly be working productively at the same time. Or can you? Some managers and workplace experts are now arguing that whether you're social networking, instant messaging, playing Critter Crunch on your smart phone, or just surfing the Web, you may not be acting as anti-productively as you thought.
According to a recent study by Australian researchers at the University of Melbourne, visiting websites of personal interest during work hours can actually increase productivity. "People who do surf the Internet for fun at work—within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office—are more productive by about 9% than those who don't," said Dr. Brent Coker, author of the paper. The act, which he coins "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, can actually help sharpen workers' concentration by providing a virtual break of sorts from their workloads.
In addition to helping workers regain their focus, consumer technology in the workplace can also help bring coworkers together. Few have benefited more from today's technological luxuries than sports fans. With streaming video, up-to-the-minute score updates, and real-time messaging from around the world, sporting events like March Madness and the World Cup are easier than ever to follow at work. According to a survey conducted by staffing service OfficeTeam®, the enthusiasm that workers feel each year about their favorite NCAA basketball teams can actually have a positive effect on workplace productivity and morale. Out of 1,000 senior managers surveyed, 22% believed that March Madness improves productivity and 41% believed it boosts employee morale.
Let's also remember that smart phones and other hand-held devices are designed to do much more than provide driving directions. Most are capable of handling the same business tasks once delegated to desktop computers. An increasing number of business-oriented applications on the market are being utilized as business tools by IT workers, managers, small business owners and many other professionals.
Like most things in life, moderation is key. Workplace Internet leisure browsing can increase a worker's productivity, but only to a point. Spending half the day tweeting your personal views is unlikely to improve productivity for anyone in the office.
In fact, some argue that social networking habits of employees can pose serious problems for companies—especially smaller enterprises. Sharing proprietary information or disparaging opinions about employers on social networking sites is problematic because that information can be accessed by anyone, including company clients, investors and competitors. "We have a brand here we have to maintain and I don't think our clients need to see what our employees are doing on Facebook," said Nicole Loftus, founder of Zorch Sourcing LLC. "There needs to be a separation between what's business and personal."
It wasn't but a decade ago that the boundaries between business and personal, enterprise IT and consumer IT, were different—they were defined. Your computer stayed at the office. Telephones were connected to walls. Twitter didn't exist. Photos were things you held. It was easier to avoid distractions at work because, well, there was less to be distracted by. These days, things are certainly different. While consumer technology can complement your workplace productivity, just remember that like all decisions you make in your office—from the time spent on your Droid™ to your interpretation of "casual" Friday—think first about how your actions affect your co-workers, yourself, and most importantly, your organization.
Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.
Facebook is a trademark of Facebook Inc.
Kindle is a trademark of Amazon Technologies Inc.
Google and YouTube are trademarks of Google Inc.
Hulu is a trademark of Hulu LLC.
iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.
Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license.
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