A secret audit report has found out that staff working at Waverley Borough Council are visiting Facebook more than their own website during the day, a report that looks to spell out just how much businesses losing through “internet misuse”.
The Daily Mail has got involved, noting “the significant amount of time some members of staff spend surfing the Internet may indicate that their role does not warrant a full-time position.”
In one section, it showed one worker had spent 90 hours and ten minutes online in a month with another 73 hours and 16 minutes. eBay, Yahoo and BBC News were among the other websites visited, with the Council webpage ranking second behind Facebook. The council webpage’s ranking is probably artificially inflated because many staff set the website as their browser’s home page.
It’s funny that people are surprised that staff check Facebook more than their own website? Unless your company’s website serves as an information portal, there would be no reason to check a website that barely changes from day-to-day and tells them nothing they don’t already know.
As a result of this report, the council has put many sites on an internet blacklist, stopping workers from accessing Facebook and many other sites. Typically, when sites are blocked, internet users are going to spend a lot more time trying to access the websites using alternative methods.
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There needs to be a line in the sand where workers are allowed to browse and undertake research on the internet, outright blocking sites will lead to decreased staff motivation and extra time spent working out how to circumvent blocks. Perhaps management should be the ones to take the blame, if staff were managed better, they wouldn’t need to waste time on the internet.
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