Companies often express concern about the amount of time employees in the workplace may be spending on Facebook, Twitter, celebrity gossip, and funny cat videos. The Digital Future study has looked into this potential problem. For ten years we have asked Americans who have Internet access at work about the impact of online activities on their productivity. According to our results, employers do not have that much to worry about.

Through the years the percentage of users saying that the Internet at work is making them more productive has been relatively high, never dropping below 55 percent.  In 2010, close to two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents who went online for their jobs claimed that Internet had improved their performance.  The percentage was the same as that registered in 2009, but lower than the 68 percent for 2008 and 71 percent in 2007.

In the 2010 study, 30 percent of employed Internet users reported no change in productivity due to being online. Only 6 percent said their work performance had suffered, a marginal decline from the 7 percent in 2009.
__________

Internet access at work: views about productivity
(Internet users age 16 and older who use the Internet at work)

internet-access-at-work

 

To view the full report of 2010 findings, visit here.

Visit the Web Insight Archive.