Personal Internet browsing could be encouraged in Swedish work places

Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Traditionally Internet surfing during working hours or what is referred here as private browsing is discouraged. But that looks like it might soon change if the finding result from a recent study is considered credible.

A new study by two Swedish researchers on private surfing during working hours has claimed that it can be beneficial for the work place if it is encouraged. This contrast with what has been happening in the past years where we have read about how in places of work, media systems such as Facebook have been blocked. We have heard of pay cuts for employees who have devoted hours to social networks and the huge sums that employers lose when employees go on private surfing at work.

In an article soon to be published in the Journal of Workplace Rights, two Swedish researchers have been working out on a study which suggest that private browsing is not as expensive and harmful to the workplace as earlier studies seems to have argued. In fact, it may be good for the workplace as surfing hour lost could be recovered during an intensive working day.

"An additional benefit is that creativity can be helped by taking a break and do something else if one has stalled," said Patrik Larsson, Professor of Work Science at the Centre for Service Research at Karlstad University to Swedish television.

He points out that the line between work and private life is no longer as clear as before and engaging employers grumble about an employee who still brings work home. So to get "out-of-life" work, it can sometimes be managed from the job. Patrik Larsson also thinks it is surprising that private surfing during working hours is such a loaded topic.

"All of the studies of what employees are doing in the workplace shows that we all do things that maybe we should not. Most studies show that the time we spend on other things than the job is about ten percent of working time, 5 - 6 minutes per hour. In today's work however, we see more and more that the employer purchases employee engagement rather than time, so more focus should be on delivering a good day's work," says Patrik Larsson.
By Scancomark.se Team

What do you think about this article and us? Please leave a comment