Indian companies losing productivity to social networking sites: survey

Indian companies lose productivity each day since a large number of employees spend office hours on social networking sites, reveals a new survey.

In a survey released yesterday by the industry body, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) shows that nearly 12.5 per cent of productivity of human resource in the corporate sector is lost each day since a vast majority of them are on social networking sites during the office hours.

Almost each day, an average corporate employee spends an hour on various social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, Myspace, Linkdein and others for romancing or for different purposes.

The random sample survey was based on interviews with nearly 4,000 corporate employees between age group ranging from 21 to 60 years in metros and towns that covered Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Indore, Ahemdabad, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Luckow and Kanpur.

ASSOCHAM secretary general D S Rawat said that majority of companies effectively lose close to 12.5 per cent of total productivity each day since their employee keep accessing social networking sites.

As a matter of fact, growing use of browsing sites can be so dangerous for overall productivity that IT companies have already installed software to restrict use of social networking sites, added Rawat.

The survey was conducted by research firm ASDF from September to November 2009 on the subject of corporate employee's involvement in networking.

The most sought after sites among corporate personnel from 21-30 years turned out to be Orkut and Facebook followed by Mypscae and Linkdein, which cater to corporate employees that in the age bracket of 31-45 and above, reveals the survey.

The survey showed that 77 per cent of workers who have Orkut accounts use it during work hours, and, most disturbing for employers, is the fact that 83 per cent saw nothing wrong in surfing at work during office hours.

The research shows that nearly half of office employees access social networking sites such as Facebook during office work. Moreover, 4 in every 10 workers built their entire Orkut, Facebook profile during work.

It has been found that nearly 82 per cent of workers have a Facebook account. The average worker uses it for 30-40 minutes a day which adds up to a lost week each year.

More than half of office workers use sites like orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Myspace for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40-60 minutes each day.

Young professionals join the social networking sites the most as the survey revealed that 93 per cent of youngsters were aware of social networking sites.
In the age group of 45-58, 73 per cent spend over an hour online daily to use online sources to access news.

However, since most organisations do not monitor and manage these sites as closely as email, it opens up the potential of internal communication policy violatations.

The survey also found that 19 per cent of companies allow social networking use only for business purposes, while 16 per cent allow limited personal use. Only 40 per cent of the employee interviewed said that their companies allow employees full access to social networks during work hours.

Using social networking sites may divert employees' attention away from more priorities. For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes.

The study has pointed out that employee's the best excuse to check out their Facebook or Orkut accounts during lunch breaks but turning to social networking sites or general Internet surfing in the office hours. 

Reasons for Social Network User join a Social Network	Female	Male
Keeping in touch with friends	93%	80
For fun	90%	62%
Keeping in touch with family	29%	45%
Was invited to use the site by someone I know	40%	42%
Keeping in touch with classmates	56%	65%
keeping in touch with business network	2%	32%
Job Searching	25%	35%
other	6%	8%

84% of internet users in metropolitans show signs of internet addiction - they don't take breaks at appropriate times, they spend more than a 'normal' amount of time online, and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing.