Ever wonder what your boss is really up to behind those closed doors? Or why your coworker quickly ALT-TABs when you walk past his cubicle? What are they doing when they're supposed to be working--that they really don't want you to see?
A new report suggests it could be porn that's punishing their productivity. And surprisingly workplaces aren't doing much to stop it.
In fact, according to the "Wasted Time in the Workplace" report, released by Biz 3.0, seventy percent of Internet pornography traffic occurs during the 9-5 work week. Seventy percent! That's a lot of people surfing sex sites on their company's dime.
I suppose it makes sense in a way. You're bored. The sites are ready and waiting. And it's a lot tougher to get caught by your wife. After all, she can't pull up your Internet history on your work computer, now can she?
But the question remains, wouldn't the workplace itself make an effort to stop such online ogling? Well, maybe not, according to the report. In fact, it appears the powers-that-be are much more concerned with social media then sex sites, with 14.2 percent blocking Facebook at work and only 1.2 percent blocking sites like pornhub.com and playboy.com.
Not that Facebook isn't a productivity killer in and of itself. People spend 800 billion minutes on the social media site each day, with the average user logging on daily for just under an hour. In response, more then 50 percent of workplaces prohibit Facebook or Twitter all together, with 19 percent allowing it for business use.
And then there's email--another productivity problem. Seven out of 10 employees admit to checking their personal email at work, with 33 percent checking it at least three times a day. And if that's not bad enough, 14 percent admitted to transmitting confidential information over that email.
And bottom line? All of this is effecting companies' bottom lines. Whether it's porn, social media, or plain old email, personal Internet use on the job is costing companies millions--if not billions--each year in lost revenue. In fact, according to the report, businesses estimate a 40 percent productivity loss, caused by non-work related Internet activity.
But that message evidently isn't getting to workers, with 31 percent insisting it's completely appropriate for them to surf non-work related sites everyday. And 48 percent would much rather spend their time online then take a long lunch (15%).
