The Internet and the Workplace: Friends or Foes?

How often do you go online at work? It may seem like just a minute here to check the weather, a minute there to look at personal email. Nevertheless, those minutes all add up - some employees manage to spend several hours a day on the internet for non work-related tasks.

Internet usage is the biggest distraction facing employees in the office, and it can seriously hurt productivity. To counter our society's addiction to the internet, many organizations have installed site blockers and/or monitoring systems. These tactics tend to be fairly effective, as they remove the temptation to spend hours looking at videos on YouTube or obsessively checking sports scores on ESPN.com. However, according to Harvard Business School Professor Marco Piovesan, just because the ability to go online has been removed does not mean the internet stops distracting the employee. His research suggests the desire alone to go online can distract employees and lower productivity, even though they do not actually spend any time on the internet.

In Piovesan's study, participants were asked to complete simple task on their computers. Before the task began, a funny video popped up and played on half of the participant's screens. The other half of the participants received a pop-up that talked about the video and included a link. These participants were instructed not to click on the link. Those who did not watch the video made three times as many mistakes than those who did watch the video.ⁱ Piovesan suggests the use of willpower to ignore the urge to go online hurts the brain's ability to complete other tasks.

Blocking access can have other detrimental effects as well. Many employees need to utilize the internet for work-related research, and blockers often hinder these tasks. If an employee needs to ask permission every time he or she needs to view a video on YouTube or read a blog entry, it significantly decreases productivity. In addition, it affects one of the key drivers of Employee Engagement – the autonomy and freedom to do one's work.

Blocking or limiting internet access can also make employees feel Senior Management does not trust them. By not trusting employees to stay off of the web during business hours and installing blockers, organizations are saying they do not trust or respect employees to do their jobs. According to research from HR Solutions, only 65 percent of employees believe their organization treats employees with respect. In addition, only 50 percent of employees believe there is a climate of trust at their organization.

A better solution to the issue of internet usage may be to enact a very specific policy that details exactly when and how employees should be using the internet. The policy should include some leeway for personal internet use, such as an allotted time per day employees are allowed to surf or designate "internet breaks" that work like coffee or cigarette breaks.

Creating a policy that discusses how to appropriately use the internet in the workplace comes across as less intrusive than closely monitoring each employee or uniformly blocking all sites that could be used for entertainment. Putting a policy into place also shows the organization trusts each employee to decide for his or herself how to utilize the internet at work, and does not hinder their ability to visit sites for research purposes. Organizations may think they are removing distractions by blocking internet use in the workplace. However, by using an internet policy instead, they can remove distractions as well as improve trust, autonomy, productivity, and Employee Engagement.

ⁱ Piovesan, Marco. "What's Distracting Your Employees at Work – And How to Put a Stop to It." Human Resources IQ Online. http://goo.gl/8cDJC. Retrieved June 2, 2011.