Do you monitor your staff social media use??  I read with interest the results of a joint study conducted by Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology and online security company MailGuard, which measured the internet usage of 50,000 people over a six-month period.  According to the study, workers spend an average of between 30 to 60 minutes online for personal reasons every day, while the heaviest users spend up to two hours online.  Social Media sites and online shopping sites rated highly as well as news, sports, weather, transport and personal banking (not necessarily in this order btw).

The good news for employers is that only 20% of those surveyed were classified as ‘heavy explorers’, ie: exceeding a baseline of ‘normal’ activity set at 200 wesbites/month.  Interestingly it is at this level that staff productivity is considered to deteriorate, NOT BEFORE!

What is ‘normal’ online behaviour

A Swinburne lecturer (Rajesh Vasa) said that users typically glance at social media sites for only a few seconds at a time, furthermore – the behaviour in general being engaged in, are normal workplace socializing as has always occurred, but has simply migrated to a new medium (on-line instead of the water cooler!).

What does the study reveal?

MailGuard chief executive Craig McDonald says employers can rest assured that most people are doing the right thing, labelling heavy explorers as the exception rather than the rule.

Vasa says a lot of workers identified as heavy explorers held less important positions, such as temps, who don’t always have a large workload anyway.

McDonald says rather than introduce a “blanket policy”, whereby the use of social media sites is completely banned, employers should discuss excessive use with their staff. (reference here)

What can employers learn?

Firstly the study (as well as several others) points to the fact that complete blocking of staff access to social media and websites tends to have a reverse impact on productivity – instead of increasing efficiency it tends to incite rebellion that reduces productivity.  The other thing the study points to is that it is better to measure productivity, heavy users may also be those who achieve high productivity and manage multiple tasks!  The last important issue I wanted to address is that fact that a blanket no Social Media policy because of a few ‘squeeky wheels’ is not fair to the vast majority of staff who don’t take advantage.

What can employers do?

Software solutions are a fantastic idea – companies such as MailGuard or NetBoxBlue offer software that allow for usage that is restricted in some ways, eg: particular words can be banned or monitoring software that notifies staff when their internet usage changes.  This equates to showing staff that you have a level of trust and respect their ability to manage their own time.

One workplace I know has a couple of dedicated PC’s in the lunch are so that staff can access them on their break.

Which ever options you decide upon, it is best to speak with your staff – explain to them that you accept there will be some usage and you will allow this as long as it is not taken advantage of – a workplace with a friendly, co-operative and social atmosphere is much more effective at gaining great productivity – social media is one of the ways to increase your staff feelings of wellbeing!

We’d love to hear from you – do you allow social media usage? Have you got some good or bad case studies you’d like to share with us?!