Wasting time at work costs U.S. employers more than $85 billion a year. Everyday somewhere between 1.5 to 3 hours of each person's day is empty labor like - among other things - surfing the internet for personal reasons.
A new study by the University of Texas at San Antonio shows that giving employees the illusion of control, by allowing them to decide how to regulate the web in the office, leads to greater engagement throughout the staff.
Workplace productivity is a tricky subject. Gallup reported a few years back that only about 30 percent of American workers are actively engaged at work, 70 percent were either not fully engaged or actively disengaged. Simultaneously, the American workforce is probably more productive than at any time in history. Since 1979 the American worker has become 80 percent more productive thanks to technological advancement and Americans working more than ever, foregoing vacation, etc. Wages, on the other hand, have come nowhere close to raising that much, and since The Great Recession have been stagnate.
Why do we cyberloaf? Are Americans who are cyberloafing taking back their time?
Guest:
- Matthew McCarter, Associate Professor of Management at UTSA
