Of all the major social media sites, one is stealing more employee time than any other: Facebook.
That's according to a survey of 1,000 employees by FindLaw.com, the legal information website, which found that 50 percent of adult Americans admit using the Internet for personal use while at work.
The survey showed that, while personal email is the biggest time-thieving culprit on the job, Facebook isn't far behind. Some 34 percent said they check personal email at work (which actually seems low compared to other surveys). The only social media site that even popped up above 10 percent was Facebook, at 26 percent. Videos also proved to be popular, with YouTube and other video sites coming in at 19 percent.
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But no other social media plaything apparently has the hold on workplace eyes that Facebook has. Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and the rest were lumped together as "other social media" and scored a 10 percent ranking from those surveyed.
Other non-work pastimes included "news" at 27 percent, online shopping at 23 percent, and "sports" at 13 percent. (The survey must have been conducted at a rare non-playoff window.)
Why do employees slide off the work rails to indulge on the boss's time in personal surfing? The main reason was boredom: 28 percent said that's why they surf. Another 21 percent said they just couldn't wait to check whatever they check till they got off work, and 13 percent said they had a faster connection at work than at home.
"While employees are entitled to some privacy at work, it's important to remember that your workspace and your computer belong to your employer," said Tanya Roth, an attorney and editor with FindLaw.com. "So your employer is generally entitled to monitor your use of their computers. In addition, any activity that is judged to be interfering with or distracting an employee from their duties may not be looked upon favorably. So employees should be mindful of any company rules on use of computers and the Internet."
That, coming from a lawyer rather than an efficiency consultant, might give employees pause. But darn those Facebook cat videos are just so cute …
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
