Web Surfing Improves Productivity

This is no joke. How do we know? The researchers who designed and conducted this study are from the National University of Singapore. That is the place where you can be jailed for improper disposal of chewing gum. This is a country that is really serious about work. They wouldnt dream of messing with a semi-sacred subject like business performance.

Hyperbole aside, researchers have long understood that even chair-and-computer-bound 'symbolic analysts' do better work when they can take their minds off whatever numbers they are crunching. The great thing for employers is that web-surfing keeps the web-serf at his or her desk, so none of that inefficient gym work out or lunch break nonsense to interfere with the business at hand.We doubt employers will be mollified. They will continue to monitor, analyze and frown. Because that is what they do. But the harsh reality is, there is not much they can do about this anyway. The good news is that you can now do it without even a twinge of guilt (not that we think there was much of that to begin with); it's all good. JL

Rachel Emma Silverman reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Don't feel guilty about browsing the Internet at work—turns out it may actually improve your performance.

According to a new study, Web browsing can actually refresh tired workers and enhance their productivity, compared to other activities such as making personal calls, texts or emails, let alone working straight through with no rest at all
The study, "Impact of Cyberloafing on Psychological Engagement," by Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G Lim of the National University of Singapore, was presented last week in San Antonio, Texas, at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, an association of management scholars.

The researchers conducted two studies. In the first, they assigned 96 undergraduate management students into one of three groups—a control group, a "rest-break" group and a Web-surfing group. All subjects spent 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e's as they could find in a sample text. For the next 10 minutes, the control group was assigned another simple task; members of the rest-break group could do whatever they pleased, except surf the Internet; and the third group could browse the Web. Afterward, all of the subjects spent another 10 minutes highlighting more letters.

The researchers found that the Web-surfers were significantly more productive and effective at the tasks than those in the other two groups and reported lower levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and higher levels of engagement.

"Browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function," the authors said. Personal emailing, by contrast, was particularly distracting for workers. The second study, which surveyed 191 adults, found similar results.

Why is Web-surfing more restorative than, say, responding to a friend's email? When browsing the Internet, people "usually choose to visit only the sites that they like—it's like going for a coffee or snack break. Breaks of such nature are pleasurable, rejuvenating the Web surfer," wrote Dr. Lim, in an email. By contrast, workers can't control the kinds of email they receive, and reading and replying to each message is "cognitively more demanding, relative to Web surfing, as you need to pay attention to what is said on the email," she added.

Because Web-surfing can aid productivity, the researchers caution employers against over-restricting workers' Web access. They recommend that managers allow time for limited personal Web browsing "since it has a salubrious impact on employees' productivity," while limiting access to personal emails.