Up to 80% of the time spent online at work is ' wasted, ' according to study

Almost 80 percent work hours spent online are wasted on quote "cyberloafing" (AFP) are you're reading this article when it is supposed to work.

A new study from Kansas State University suggests that we spend even more time than previously thought browsing aimlessly on the Internet during office hours.
"Cyberloafing" — wasting time at work online — takes as much as 80% of the time people spend online at work, according to data collected by Joseph Urgin-minefield, an Assistant Professor at Kansas State and John Pearson, associate professor at Southern Illinois University.
The results were published in the latest issue of the journal computers in human behavior.
Their findings also suggest that the traditional guidelines surrounding the use of the Internet is not sufficient to police worker behavior, and that if companies really want to downsize the amount their employees time browsing on the Web, they must "constantly apply" sanctions to support their policies cyberloafing.
"We found that for young people, it was hard to get them to think that social networking was unacceptable behavior," said Ugrin. "Just have a policy in place will not change their attitudes or behavior at all. Even when they knew that were monitored, they still didn't care. "
Then again, not necessarily all "cyberloafing" can be measured as a net loss for businesses. 2011 study found that in certain fields, when people spend time casually browsing the Web at work, actually end up being more productive and creative.
The risks for employers go beyond lost productivity. Ugrin and Pearson point out that also poses risks cyberloafing lawyers for companies if their employees are engaged in activities such as viewing pornography or participate in illegal transactions.
Ugrin and Pearson found that waste of time was spent in almost equal measure among the different age groups but that generational differences have been expressed in various ways in which people specifically wasting their time.
"Older people are doing things like managing their finances, while young people are much more acceptable to spend time on social networking sites like Facebook," said Ugrin.
And while the study authors approve tougher sanctions to enforce the conduct of employee and productivity, say employers must maintain a healthy balance so as not to negatively affect Office morale.
"People feel like big brother is watching them, so companies need to be careful when you take these kinds of actions," said Ugrin.

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