Visiting sites like Facebook or YouTube while at work can make employees more productive, claims a new University of Melbourne study.
Dr. Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing" (WILB) are more productive than those who don't.
"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," he says.
"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity," said Coker.
According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB. The most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, and reading online news sites.
Click to Read More
