Some workers spend more than 5 hours surfing the Net in office: Survey
by Sumita Sreedharan
04:45 AM Mar 23, 2012
SINGAPORE - More than three in four employees surveyed here have admitted to surfing websites that are not work related during office hours, even though it is against most companies' policies, according to a poll by online job portal JobsCentral.
Of the 2,281 respondents, 45.6 per cent of those surveyed spend no more than an hour daily on non-work-related websites while at work. Some 26.7 per cent said they spend between one and three hours on such sites, while 1.4 per cent said they spend more than five hours.
The respondents consisted of employed individuals from all levels of occupation and income groups.
The survey, conducted in August last year, also found a correlation between salary and time spent on the Internet for personal use. Employees with higher salaries seemed to spend less than an hour or even no time on the activity during office hours.
Almost three in four, or 72.3 per cent, of respondents who earn more than S$7,000 per month admitted to spending little or no time surfing sites that were unrelated to work. This is compared to 69.5 per cent of those who earn between S$3,000 and S$5,000 and 66.7 per cent of those who earn less than S$3,000 monthly.
Slightly less than one in 10 respondents to the survey said they blogged about their work, colleagues and company.
And when it came to being friends with their boss on social networking sites, only one-third of respondents said their boss was on their list of contacts, with those under the age of 30 being most likely to add their bosses on social networking sites.
JobsCentral chief operating officer Michelle Lim felt younger workers seemed more likely to "blur the line between work and personal relationships".
"However, they need to consider if they really want their bosses to make judgements about them that may negatively impact their career," she added.
Ms Lim noted there have been cases where employees were terminated by their employers due to inappropriate content on their social network profiles. Recruiters also routinely check social media to gain a holistic view of job seekers. Sumita Sreedharan
