Blocking employee access to social media is unnecessary, short-sighted and counterproductive. Yet, according to one study, some 54% of U.S. companies restrict employees from visiting sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Blocking employee access to social media is unnecessary, short-sighted and counterproductive. Yet, according to one study, some 54% of U.S. companies restrict employees from visiting sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The concerns that lead to blocking access are easily addressed. The most commonly raised fear is loss of productivity. Fueled by back-of-the-envelope calculations by vendors that sell blocking software and hardware, companies are convinced they are losing productivity whenever employees log on to a social network.
In fact, multiple studies report productivity actually increases when employees are able to connect to their networks, by as much as 9%, according to research by the University of Melbourne.
But the premise that productivity suffers is flawed at its core. It assumes employees work only eight hours and that time spent online eats into the limited time available for work. It also assumes employees never work away from the office, an absurd (and disproven) assumption in the world of 24/7 connectedness.