時尚雙語:上班時上網開小差能提高工作效率

Facebook, YouTube at work make better employees

Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It'll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, helped to sharpened workers' concentration.

"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," Coker said on the university's website

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case."

However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.

"Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," he said.

上班時上Twitter或Facebook網被撞見？這會讓你成爲一個更優秀的員工。澳大利亞一項研究表明，上班時上網能夠提高工作效率。

這項由墨爾本大學開展的研究顯示，上班時出於因個人原因上網的人的工作效率比不上網的人高9%。

研究負責人、墨爾本大學管理和營銷系的布蘭特•科克說：“工作時的網絡休閒（WILB）”有助於員工集中注意力。

科克在發表於該大學網站的研究報告中稱：“人們需要開個小差來重新集中他們的注意力。”

他說：“短時間而無傷大雅的休息，如迅速瀏覽網頁能讓大腦得到放鬆，讓人精力更加集中地完成一天的工作，從而提高工作效率。”

在受訪的300名員工中，有70%的人稱自己在上班時會“上網休閒”。

其中最常見的網絡休閒活動包括查詢產品信息、瀏覽新聞網站、玩網絡遊戲以及在YouYube觀看視頻等。

科克說：“一些公司花費數百萬購置安裝防止員工看視頻、上社交網或在線購物的軟件，以爲這樣可以彌補生產效率低下造成的巨大損失，但事實並非如此。”

但科克指出，該研究調查的是適度上網、或上網時間不到總工時20%的人。

他說：“那些上網成癮的人的工作效率自然要低於其他人。”