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Research claims social media costs millions in lost productivity
by David Woodward
  • Tools designed to aid more collaborative, productive ways of working are having the opposite effect, according to a new report. Should firms get tougher with time-wasters?

  • Does social networking harm productivity? It's a question still on the minds of IT departments and HR chiefs, many of whom feel valuable work hours are being lost to the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn. Research by harmon.ie appears to support that view. Its global survey of IT workers concluded that the spread of social tools "designed to increase productivity is actually costing businesses millions of dollars per year in lost productivity."

  • The research calculated that almost 60 per cent of work interruptions come in the form of email, social networks, text messaging or instant messaging. "Information technology that was designed at least in part to save time is actually doing precisely the opposite," explains Yaacov Cohen, chief executive of harmon.ie. "The very tools we rely on to do our jobs are also interfering with that mission. We're clearly seeing what psychologists call 'online compulsive disorder' spill over from our personal lives to the work environment."

  • Many entrepreneurs feel that instead of harming productivity, social tools actively enhance it. David Bashford, a director at Siteforum, says email shouldn't be lumped in with other more useful social tools. He cites the example of management consultancy firm Atos, which has pledged to abandon all internal email by 2014. This is partly down to recognition of the take-up of other social communication tools by the current "pre-work generation", he says, and partly down to the realisation that email is in fact quite inefficient.

  • Sending multiple emails to "selected colleagues on a need-to-know basis is hopelessly inefficient," says Bashford, "and new systems and future working practices will address this. The most important transformation will be the shift to more inclusive collaboration on open platforms, where sharing is the default, not just an after-thought. This will unleash huge organisational potential for knowledge discovery with benefits including greater innovation, reduced time spent searching for information and elimination of duplicated effort."

  • While they might accept the change that lies ahead, larger companies worry about the period of transition. Should they monitor employee use of social network sites to ensure their office hours remain productive? Not necessarily, says Vanessa Robinson, Head of HR practice development at the CIPD. In cases where companies suspect websites are being "used inappropriately", they may wish to monitor use. But as a general rule, an employee's performance "is determined by outputs, not by their activity".

  • Robinson says that while there are no clear data supporting either a positive or negative impact on productivity, social media's growing reputation as a cost-effective business tool across the entire organisation makes it hard to suppress. "While there are some aspects of social media that are not relevant to a person's work, more and more social media-related activity is being used constructively to support people at work," says Robinson. "Examples might be using social media to attract potential employees, using social media to share learning and capture knowledge, using social media to engage with staff who are based remotely, who work from home or in different offices, or geographies."

  • Robinson says the CIPD recommends companies employ "clear written policies that are also clearly communicated to employees, setting out what is and isn't" acceptable use of social media. This includes whether or not they can offer their own opinions, or reveal "information related to the organisation they work for," she adds. "Companies can then make sure that any monitoring they do is against these policy guidelines."


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