Facebook could be costing companies over £130m a day
Rushda:
September 13th, 2007
An new study has shown that workers who spend time on popular social-networking sites such as Facebook could be costing their employers dearly for their procrastination, with alarming results showing an estimated £130m a day of loss. Though some businesses have already banned Facebook, it is still a serious issue for those who remain unaware.
The research, which was conducted by employment law firm Peninsula, was based on a survey of 3,500 UK companies. The results show that 233 million hours are lost each month as a result of employees wasting time on Facebook instead of working. Leading researcher Mike Huss, a director of employment law at Peninsula, urges that businesses have a more strict regime when it comes social-networking when at work. He argues that there is a huge loss of productivity and says:
“Why should employers allow their workers to waste two hours a day on Facebook when they are being paid to do a job? The figures that we have calculated are minimums and it’s a problem that I foresee will escalate.”
Though the study has found that there has been a huge loss of productivity due to Facebook, the decision to ban it isn’t that simple. Indeed, some companies have allowed workers to use it because it motivates and refreshes them if they can have some leisure time during work hours. It could indeed be that, while less work gets done when using Facebook, the quality of work is still much better and employees have more enthusiasm during the day.
Most agree that the best plan of action is not to ban Facebook altogether but limit and monitor its use, i.e. by allowing it during lunch breaks and so on.