Being on a computer most of the day is pretty common in the workplace these days, but let’s face it, a lot of employees are on that computer for anything but work.
A new survey finds that when companies don’t restrict Internet activities, 58% of workers spend at least four hours per day on websites that aren’t related to their jobs, which amounts to 26 workdays per year.
All those hours can be quite costly to an employer. With the median U.S. salary being $45,812, employers are actually paying their workers $4,500 a year to spend 10% of their time on non-work related web activities.
That could explain why many companies will restrict employees from visiting certain sites.
- Overall, 58% of companies say they actively monitor employee Internet activity, while 89% block or limit the use of certain sites.
- Of those companies, 85% prevent employees from going on illegal and unethical/inappropriate sites, while 61% block them from visiting dating sites on the job.
- While social media sites can be a waste of time, only 38% of companies restrict those sites, although some are blocked more than others.
- Overall, Facebook and Snapchat are the most likely to be blocked on corporate networks (36%), followed by Instagram (35%) Twitter (32%), Pinterest (31%) and Linkedin (16%).
Source: Spiceworks