Is Social Media Use Killing Productivity at Small Businesses?

Is social media killing productivity at work
Social media access at work can be a great way to break up the day for employees. In a pressure-driven environment a little Facebook or Twitter distraction can be a quick, free and easy escape from intense routine that some employees experience in their daily 9-to-5 roles.

However, social media can also end up as a significant company expense, costing significant amount in lost productivity. The average staff member can spend up to 12% of a given day on social media sites when they should be doing what they’re paid to do.

Unnecessary evil
As human beings, we’re probably not programmed to work for eight hours a day – at least not at 100 percent productivity. And with social media, concentration levels are being broken at a steadfast pace, emails are being received on our mobiles or inboxes alerting us to a new friend request – and drawing us away far too easily from the relevant tasks at hand.

In this day and age, many companies require full Internet access to work on almost every task and in every department. They compete in the online world. And for companies with digitally engaged employees, it’s common to see staff fiddling on their computers or smartphones as soon as they get notified of a photo they were just tagged in, bathroom breaks can go from five minutes to 20, and lunch hours end up being lunch ‘hour-and-a-halfs’ as employees catch up on the latest debate on Twitter surrounding their favourite pop star.

Locked down
Most companies have a firm Internet policy, whereby certain sites are blocked, meaning no Facebooking or Tweeting on company time. This is great for companies who may not need access to online resources, however at software development houses or ad agencies where the Internet is a great resource for all things work-related, this mentality can hinder certain staff members’ core functions.

Should you lock down access? Blocking may result in staff feeling that they’re being treated as children. Why should they be ‘punished’ by not being able to view social media sites just because a few people have abused relaxed approach to social networking? This is the crux of the problem. Not all employees will take misuse the open policy, but there will usually be one or two staff members who will. So what do you do?

Policies
One of the easiest ways to ensure that staff are not taking misusing social media sites while on company time is to ensure they are aware of any IT policies of tracking staff Internet usage.

This can be seen as a deterrent, as an employee will think twice before accessing their favourite social media site when there is a common knowledge that their browsing history is being eyed out by the IT department.

Also, when access is blocked to sites due to misuse, staff members won’t be able to complain as they would have been warned about company policy from the get go.

Security
Another aspect of freely surfing the web during office hours is the issue of security. Downloading that funny email attachment onto your office laptop or PC may install viruses, and leave your company’s network open to the threat of attack from would be hackers. This can be a very serious matter, as it will put company data at risk. Make sure you’re always protected by installing the latest antivirus software.

Culture of productivity
Introducing productive methodologies into the work environment such as the Pomodoro Technique (a time management technique which breaks tasks up into time manageable chunks to avoid external distractions).

Methods such as this can help staff who struggle with time management and who are more susceptible to being easily distracted with getting their tasks done. Sadly, it will not work for everyone. But by showing employees that there are methods out there to manage their time better, it will help them understanding that while social media can be a good tool at the office it can also be seen as a major time waster.

Comments

  1. Hey there, This is a great post, I agree with all of it!

    We found that ‘lockdown’ and strict policies, can lead to people just accessing those sites on their smartphones, opposed to company equipment. (I was guilty in the past of this), and still be un-productive.

    The culture of productivity in my opinion is the best way to go, especially if you can SEE your productivity in front of you. Our app, trigger does that.

    You can set a daily goal of how much billable time everyone needs to log, and your graph goes green when you’re hitting your target. This, coupled with incentives (a case of beer to whoever generates the most traffic to a blog post), is very effective in not only increasing productivity, but raising company profits, and moral as well.

    It’s working for us! 🙂

  2. It is all about strategy, if your social media strategy is not good definitely you will not get anything in the shape of benefit. However your shared points are very effective to learn bout the mistakes people do in social media media marketing for their small business.

Trackbacks

  1. BizSugar.com says:

    Is Social Media Use Killing Productivity at Small Businesses?…

    Use of social media at work is a double-edged sword. It can be a great job aid or big time waster depending on how you use it. What are the pros and cons?…