Running head: CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 1

Effectively Managing Cyberloafing in the 21st Century Workplace

Tanisha Graves, Kalok Lai, Hana Raskin, Catherine Skovron

Ithaca College

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 2 Abstract

Much attention has been focused on whether or not cyberloafing- the personal use

of Internet in the workplace- enhances or hinders productivity. This study assumes that

cyberloafing is a reality of the 21st century workplace and aims to understand why

employees cyberloaf in the workplace and how employers and managers should respond

to this critical issue. The research revealed that employee cyberloafing is often a result of

their perception of the environment that they work in, including the way in which they

are treated and managed. This research and proposed solution, aims to change peoples

perceptions of cyberloafing from a nonproductive, time-wasting activity, to a stress-

relieving break in the work day that could, in fact, increase employee productivity

overall.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 3 Effectively Managing Cyberloafing

In The 21st Century Workplace

As we move further into the 21st century, the Internet is becoming increasingly

pervasive in the home and the workplace. According to a study by the Pew Internet &

American Research Project, as of May 2011, 78 percent of American adults (18+) use the

Internet, compared to only 14 percent in June 1995, a 64 percent increase. The advent of

the Internet and the debut of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, has transformed the

American businesses model and the modern workplace (Wallace, 2004). From Intranets

to cyber-conferencing to social media to search engines, the Internet has changed the way

in which organizations communicate and the way in which employees do work.

As companies become more dependent on the Internet for business, they face the

challenge of ensuring that employees are using the Internet for work-related purposes. A

recent survey by Careerbuilder, among 4,384 workers and 2,696 employers in U.S.

companies revealed that 65 percent of workers spend at least some time conducting non-

work related Web searches in a typical workday, and 22 percent find themselves

conducting non-work related Web searches at least five times a day. The survey also

found that 22 percent of employers have fired someone for using the Internet for non-

work related activity.

Cyberloafing, a term coined by Vivien K.G. Lim of the Department of

Management and Organization at the National University of Singapore Business School,

describes the act of employees using their companies Internet access for personal

purposes during work hours (Lim, 2002). The word loafing carries an explicitly negative

connotation. Loafing is defined as idling ones time away in aimless loitering

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 4 (Wordreference). This being said, even the research that argues that cyberloafing has a

positive impact on employee productivity employs a term that suggests the contrary.

Cyberloafing is often considered to be a fruitless waste of company resources, because as

Benjamin Franklin once said, time is money. It presents a challenge to the protestant

work ethic that has shaped the United States workforce since the sixteenth century

(Kidwell, 2010). The protestant work ethic, best summed up by this quote, suggests that

a person who was indifferent and displayed idleness was most certainly one of the

damned, but a person who was active, austere, and hard-working gave evidence to

himself and to others that he was one of God's chosen ones (Tilgher, 1930). At the same

time, others see cyberloafing as part of the bohemian work ethic, in which leisure,

pleasure and happiness take precedence over a constant preoccupation with ones job

(Kidwell, 2010).

From a business standpoint, every time an employee goes on Facebook or shops

for shoes on Ebay, is a loss of profit. Research suggests that 34 million U.S. workers

regularly partake in cyberloafing, which results in a productivity loss of 200.6 million

hours per week (Lim & Chen, 2009). This loss has been valued to cost companies on

average 54 billion dollars per year. As a result, businesses are cracking down on

cyberloafing by employing different methods to deter employees from misusing the

Internet. Several of these strategies include banning websites and monitoring employee

Internet usage and email. The underlying assumption is that an employee should not be

using the Internet for personal reasons during work hours. A manager walking around an

office will likely see employees quickly minimizing windows, afraid to get caught doing

the taboo.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 5 However, recent research suggests that cyberloafing might actually increase

employee productivity. Studies from the National University of Singapore and the

University of Copenhagen contradicted the widely held notion that cyberloafing is just an

idle-waste of time. We will discuss the studies in more detail later on in the paper.

As evident from the fore-mentioned statistics and research studies, there is no

clear-cut answer as to whether or not cyberloafing enhances or hinders productivity. But

something that is certain is that it is a reality of the 21st century digital workplace. As the

next generation, the Millenials, enter the workforce, cyberloafing will likely become

more of a hotbed issue. The Millenials are the first generation that has grown up with

smart phones, computers and the Internet, which means more technologically savvy

workers, but also introduces new problems of Internet addiction and dependency. This

being said, cyberloafing is becoming an increasingly pertinent issue in organizations.

There need to be new solutions for the changing workplace that address the issue in a

way that incorporates the needs of both the employee and employer.

Research Questions

The following questions were developed to get an idea of how cyberloafing

affects employee productivity, what motivates employees to use the Internet for personal

reasons, and to develop a more effective model for managing internet use in the 21st

century workplace by taking into account both the needs of the employee and of the

employer.

Why do people use the Internet for personal reasons at work?

What effect does cyberloafing have on employee productivity?

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 6 What are current business practices to limit the occurrence of cyberloafing?

What role do employers and managers have in employee cyberloafing activities?

Methods

To get a better idea of current theories and opinions concerning cyberloafing in

the workplace, the researchers conducted interviews with several experts in the

technology field.

Robin Raskin is the former editor of PC Magazine and Editor in Chief of

FamilyPC. Shes been a columnist for USA Today Online and has authored six

books about parenting in the digital age.

David Weil is the Director of Network Application Services at Ithaca College.

Weil oversees the ITS division of Enterprise Application Services whose staff are

responsible for supporting Ithaca Colleges main business and web applications.

To support the information collected from the interviews with the guest experts, the

researchers consulted scholarly articles, surveys that explicitly stated research methods,

and journalistic articles in reputable news sources like the New York Times. The

scholarly articles were used to analyze existing research on cyberloafing in the workplace

and gather background information, study results and expert opinions. The researchers

used surveys that had been done by companies and research institutes to present

quantified research. The researchers used the journalistic articles, because these articles

included interviews with experts and subject narratives.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 7 Results

Why do people use the Internet for personal reasons at work?

Fading line between home and work life. With the influx of technology, the line

between home and work life has become blurred. Often times, people find themselves

checking and answering work emails either at home or on their smart phones while they

are out. According to the eRoi Email Addiction Survey, in 2006 61 percent of people

check their email while on vacation, while 62 percent of people check work email on the

weekends. It is glaringly obvious that work has permeated the home life.

Robin Raskin compares the current day work structure with the Agricultural and

Industrial Revolutions. She says that during agricultural times, life and work was

essentially the same thing. Farmers lived where they worked and worked where they

lived. When the Industrial Revolution came around, workers would leave their house in

the morning to go to work, bringing their lunches with them. When they got home at the

end of the workday, they had time entirely separate from their work life. Todays

workplace is more complicated. Now, people expect immediate responses to emails and

other business relations, which requires employees to be accessible and connected 24/7.

Cyberloafing is a natural part of the modern day employee-business relationship,

Raskin says. If companies are asking people to always be available and to check their

work email at home, it is hard for companies to tell people that they cannot do their

personal bidding in the workplace.

The psychology behind cyberloafing. To develop effective policies to manage

Internet use and cyberloafing, it is important to understand the subconscious reasons that

people use the Internet for personal reasons at work. We have examined several

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 8 psychological theories to help us understand possible roots of the problem. In The

Psychology of Cyberloafing, Dr. Shreekumar K. Nair, Associate Professor at National

Institute of Industrial Engineering in Mumbai, outlines four theories to explain why

employees are tempted to use their companies internet for personal reasons:

Social exchange theory. This theory proposes that social behavior is the

result of an exchange process to maximize benefits and minimize costs. People compare

what they input into a relationship to what outcome they receive. If employees feel like

they are investing more than they are receiving in return, whether it is monetary

compensation, recognition, or fair treatment, then they will be less motivated to input

and more likely to cyberloaf.

Organizational justice. Organizational justice is an analysis of whether

the exchange processes, which occur in an organization are fair or just. There are

three main types of organizational justice: Distributive justice, which is the allocation of

outcomes like promotions and wages. An employee who just saw their coworker get

promoted might ask: did I deserve that promotion more than my coworker? Procedural

justice is the perceived fairness of the process that leads to the distribution of outcomes.

That same employee might ask: did my boss choose him because he has a personal

relationship with him outside of work? Interactional justice refers to the quality of

interpersonal treatment received by employees. The employee might ask more generally,

how does my boss treat me? Nair suggests that employees are more likely to engage in

misconduct, or in this case, cyberloafing, when they feel they are being unjustly treated

or that the outcomes are not allocated as they should be.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 9 Neutralization techniques. Nair also suggests that people have an innate

desire to present themselves in a positive light to both themselves and others. When an

employee sees an imbalance in their relationship with the employer, they are more likely

to use neutralization techniques. A neutralization technique is a rationalization that an

employee might use to convince themselves and others that a deviant behavior is

justifiable. One way that an employee might internally justify cyberloafing is by

reminding his or her self that he is just doing what his colleagues are doing.

Metaphor of the ledger. The final theory is called metaphor of the

ledger, which is when employees rationalize that they are entitled to engage in deviant

behaviors because of past good behaviors. A student might also employ metaphor of the

ledger if they receive a good grade on a test and decide that it is okay to skip that class

the next day. Nair suggests that employees see their services as accumulated credits to

be encashed in exchange for rewards which have been implicitly or explicitly promised

by the organization. If an employee feels as if they have acquired credits through good

behavior and work, and have not been appreciated through allocation of awards and

organizational justice then they can internally justify their cyberloafing.

Nairs theories suggest that employee cyberloafing rests heavily on organizational

justice and perceived environmental conditions. This supports the idea that cyberloafing

is not simply a matter of employees not having self-control, but is a reaction to the way

they are managed and treated in the organization.

Environment and motivation. Another theory, which supports the idea that

workplace environment plays an important role in employees cyberloafing habits, is the

idea that cyberloafing is a coping response to stress. Stress is defined as being a normal

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 10 psychophysical response to demanding or taxing events in the environment (Selye,

1974). High levels of stress in the workplace can lead to lower levels of motivation and a

general sense of dissatisfaction with the job or task at hand. The environmental demands

are referred to as stressors, while consequences are referred to as strains (Henle &

Blanchard, 2008). The intermediary is called coping. Coping can essentially stop a

stressor from becoming a strain. According to researchers Henle and Blanchard,

employees are using cyberloafing to cope with the stressors that they encounter in their

work. In their research, they suggest that cyberloafing is a coping mechanism for role

ambiguity and role conflict. Role ambiguity is defined as an uncertainty regarding job

duties and expectations and a lack of guidelines for appropriate behavior. Role conflict

refers to contradictory or incompatible demands in the workplace, which can include

conflicts between work demands and personal values.

Henle and Blanchard suggest that according to the parameters of Social Learning

Theory, cyberloafing will be less likely to occur if there are clear organizational sanctions

regarding cyberloafing. Social Learning Theory suggests that individuals learn

appropriate behavioral responses over time by observing the behavior and resulting

consequences of others in the workplace (Bandura, 1977). Therefore, if the organization

outlines specific rules regarding cyberloafing and enforces those rules, the attitudes and

behavior of employees will follow suit and cyberloafing will be less likely to be used as a

coping mechanism to environmental and workplace stress. This research suggests the

importance of a comprehensive Internet Appropriate Use Guide, which is adapted into

the organization culture and lays out what is expected of employees and the company

policies regarding Internet use.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 11 Science of attention in an information age. The Internet has opened the door to

an endless supply of information, which has both positive and negative ramifications for

workplace productivity. Employees can now research and find the answer to practically

any question or problem online. But the sheer volume of online content can be

thoroughly overwhelming. The concept of information overload was introduced by

futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970, when he predicted that the increasing amount of

information would eventually cause problems. Those problems have materialized in our

shortened attention spans.

Scientists have begun to look into how many calculations we can handle at the

same time. David Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the

University of Michigan, found that our brains have begun to adapt to the multitasking

lifestyle that we must now live to keep up with the world. This does not imply that we are

now better at multitasking, however. Meyer, along with other researchers, have proven

that multitasking is actually a myth. We are never actually doing two tasks at once, but

rather switching rapidly between them. This causes us to lose mental efficiency. Meyer

explains: Our brains process information on a variety of different channels; visual,

auditory, and so on and each channel can only process one stream of information at a

time. If you overburden a channel, the brain becomes inefficient and mistake-prone

(Anderson, 2009). The classic example is driving while talking on a cell phone, two tasks

that conflict across a range of obvious channels: Steering and dialing are both manual

tasks, looking out the windshield and reading a phone screen are both visual, etc.

Trying to process multiple streams of information simultaneously from the

Internet and your phone will result in slower productivity and will be more likely to make

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 12 mistakes. This is troubling news for the culture that we are all a part of presently. The

tech theorist Linda Stone famously coined the phrase continuous partial attention to

describe our newly exhausted state of mind. Stone explains:

American office workers dont stick with any single task for more than a few

minutes at a time; if left uninterrupted, they will most likely interrupt

themselves. Since every interruption costs around 25 minutes of

productivity, we spend nearly a third of our day recovering from them. We

keep an average of eight windows open on our computer screens at one

time and skip between them every twenty seconds (Anderson, 2009).

This research suggests that we are not only losing time and money due to

information overload, but the influx of technology in the workplace has managed to

reprogram our brains to involuntarily interrupt tasks at an alarming rate.

As it is, employees spend an average of 1.1 hours per day lost in the

unproductive locating of information (Infocentric, 2011). In the model below, it is made

evident that this superfluous and scattered information can lead to frustration and

motivational problems. This frustration can cause employees to become more easily

distracted and surf the Internet for personal purposes. If managers want employees to

cyberloaf less then there need to be knowledge management systems implemented to help

employees readily find the information they need and to avoid continuous partial

attention.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 13

(Infocentric Research, 2011)

What effect does cyberloafing have on employee productivity?

Cyberloafing and worker productivity. Researchers continue to flounder with

whether or not cyberloafing hinders or enhances productivity. There have been numerous

statistics that have demonstrated the loss of productivity in hours and the financial

implications for a company. But recent research into employee productivity based on

Internet use has uncovered that cyberloafing might in fact improve productivity. The

research takes a more humanized and employee-focused approach than the manager,

profit focused research that came before it.

The results of the study done by researchers Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G. Lim

from the National University of Singapore, concluded that cyberloafing boosts

productivity and that there needs to be a paradigm shift for dealing with cyberloafing in

organizations. The study was completed in two sections: one was an experiment with

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 14 undergraduate management students and the other a survey of working adults

(Haimowitz, 2011). In the student experiment, 96 participants were randomly assigned to

three groups: a control group, rest-break group and a browsing-the-Internet group. The

subjects were all assigned to spend 20 minutes highlighting Es in a text of 3,500 words.

After, the control group was assigned to bundle sticks into groups of fives, the rest-break

group could do anything besides use the Internet, which included doing things like

making phone calls or going to the bathroom. The third group was allowed to spend 10

minutes browsing pre-selected websites, which offered things like news, social

networking and entertainment. Afterwards, participants were instructed to spend 10

minutes highlighting As in 2,000 words of text, which was a proxy for productivity.

After the experiment, the subjects were given a questionnaire to measure their levels of

mental exhaustion, boredom and psychological engagement (Haimowitz, 2011). The

researchers concluded that the Internet-browsing group was significantly more productive

than the control and rest-break group; they were 16 percent more productive than the rest-

break group and 39 percent more productive than the control group. The web-browsers

had lower levels of mental exhaustion and higher levels of psychological engagement,

according to the survey.

In the second part of the study, alumni of a business school were randomly

selected and were mailed a survey about their activities at work, mainly about the amount

of Internet browsing and e-mailing, their psychological engagement at work, and their

mental state immediately after cyberloafing (Haimowitz, 2011). 191 alumni mailed in

surveys, which revealed that the amount of Internet browsing was positively related to

upbeat mental states as excited, interested, alert, and active and inversely related to

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 15 states such as distressed, fearful, and hostile. Both of the studies supported the idea that

Internet browsing is refreshing and improves peoples psychological states and focus.

In conclusions, the researchers urged companies to "strike a middle ground between work

and cyberloafing... allow[ing] for personal Web usage as long as it is in line with business

objectives. In light of this study, an acceptable Internet use policy would allow for

periodic Web browsing while limiting the access to personal e-mails."

Another study done by a team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen also

revealed that cyberloafing might actually be positively correlated with productivity. The

study had participants watch videos of people passing balls and count the number of

passes. First they were presented with a distraction. One group was given a funny video

that came up on their screens. The other group was given a message on the screen that

said a funny video was available by clicking on the button, but they were told not to

watch it. After ten minutes, the people in the second group could hear the people in the

first group laughing from the video. The groups were then given the task of counting the

number of ball passes. Those in the second group who had not had the opportunity to

watch the video made far more mistakes than the first group (Surowiecki, 2011).

According to James Surowiecki, author of In Praise of Distraction, the premise behind

the results is the idea that, will power is a limited resource: if we spend lots of energy

controlling our impulses in one area, it becomes harder to control our impulses in others.

Or, as the psychologist Roy Baumeister puts it, will power is like a muscle: overuse

temporarily exhausts it. The implication is that asking people to regulate their behavior

without interruption (by, say, never going online at work) may very well make them less

focused and less effective (Surowiecki, 2011). Basically, distraction can be refreshing

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 16 and can increase performance. When people sit and work on a project for hours without

any mental breaks, generally the quality of the work will decrease as energy and focus

drains.

Based on results from the experiment, Copenhagen experimenters have actually

proposed a similar solution to Lim and Chen, which is implementing short cyber-breaks,

like the outmoded coffee break of the Nineteenth century. As Surowiecki says: The

basic insightthat giving people some respite from difficult tasks, along with the chance

to let their minds wander, will make them more productiveremains true. Sometimes, it

turns out, you have to take your eye off the ball in order to hit it (2011). Both the study

by the team at the National University of Singapore and the Copenhagen Institute suggest

that providing regulated cyber breaks, or allowing employees to cyberloaf a little

while on the job will actually increase employee productivity by energizing and

revitalizing them.

What are current business practices to deter the occurrence of cyberloafing?

Surveillance monitoring. Electronic surveillance is the use of computerized

systems to automatically collect, store, analyze and report information about employee

behavior (Riedy & Wen, 2010). It is no secret that in todays workplace, many

employers closely monitor their employees Internet usage to ensure that they are

remaining on task and not cyberloafing. Employee monitoring is becoming increasingly

popular due to the more frequent occurrence of cyberloafing, the amount of attention that

is beginning to surround the issue, as well as the development of better, more complex

monitoring technologies. According to a 2007 survey conducted by the American

Management Association (AMA) and the Epolicy Institute, 66 percent of employers are

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 17 monitoring Internet connections. And, 65 percent of companies use software to block

connections to inappropriate websites - a 27 percent increase since 2001.

The table below gives an outline of different electronic surveillance technology

that employers use to keep tabs on their employees Internet habits.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 18 Monitoring Internet use is a double-edged sword. Monitoring allows businesses to

avoid liability, and make sure that employees are not on inappropriate websites, like

pornography or hate websites, or on any non-work related sites being unproductive. But

at the same time, it gives businesses and employers the ability to essentially spy on their

employees in a big brother fashion. This can cause problems like the invasion of the

personal privacy of employees, leading employees to sneak around on work time,

lowering the morale of employees and creating a hierarchal environment wherein

employees fear upper management, all of which in turn hinder productivity (Ciochetti,

2011). However, in this age where any phone that is not smart is considered archaic,

employees can find loopholes to the monitoring and banning of websites by using the

Internet on their Blackberrys or iPhones.

Surveillance might have an adverse effect on employee productivity, because

when workers begin to feel that their employer does not trust them, their mental well-

being is harmfully impacted (Riedy & Wen, 2010). Basically, employee motivation is

intrinsically correlated to the way they perceive the environment of the organization. If

the employees feel that they are not working in an honest, open environment, they are

less likely to want to put their best foot forward for that organization.

Internet Acceptable Use Policies. There are many reasons that organizations

chose to adopt Internet Acceptable Use Policies (IAUP). Some of these reasons include

loss of productivity, drain on bandwidth and computing resources by content downloaded

from the Internet, and legal liability risks (Stewart). Some of the legal liability risks relate

to protecting employees from hostile work environments with exposure to hateful or

inappropriate websites. However, oftentimes companies introduce the Policy, but fail to

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 19 effectively communicate it to employees and imbed the policies into the company culture

and everyday practices. In most companies the initial notification takes the form of

having each employee read the policy and sign an acknowledgement of

receipt(Stewart), but according to Ira G. Rostenstein, a New York-based partner in the

Employment Department of Orick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, companies need to reinforce

the employees obligations on a regular basis. For example, some companies set up a short

summary of the policy as a splash screen that appears for a brief period during boot-up

and whenever an employee signs onto the Internet(Stewart). Basically, it is important

that the policies become integrated into company culture and they are communicated

frequently and effectively.

It is also very important that the IAUP is organization-specific and that it aligns

with the companys business goals and portrays an understanding of Internet usage

objectives, specific risk profiles, and organizational culture (Stewart). Essentially, when it

comes to developing an effective IAUP, one size does not fit all.

What role do employers and managers have in employee cyberloafing activities?

Problem lies with management. The increasingly digitalized workplace has put

new strains on managers, who are responsible for ensuring that employees are productive

and staying on task. The research that we have reviewed has revealed the paramount role

that environmental conditions play in employee cyberloafing behavior. Managers and

employers have a large part in creating and sustaining these environmental conditions.

Robin Raskin believes that the problem of cyberloafing does in fact lie with

management. She explains that if management cannot create an environment that is

dynamic and invigorating in which employees would prefer to do the work rather than

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 20 surf the Internet, then thats what needs to change. Dave Weil agrees: we have a

tendency to tune out when we as humans arent appropriately stimulated - be it by the

book we are assigned to read, the professor teaching the course, or the meeting we are

attending. Human beings do not like to be bored; if the current situation doesnt engage

our minds, then we find something that does.

Raskin also emphasizes the need for a human-focused management style, she

says, that good managers have to work around the fact that people need a life and need

to give them time to take care of things. She talks about the importance of building an

honest and positive work environment; essentially, if employees like you, if they feel like

they are being treated right and they want to work for you then they will be less likely to

get off-task and cyberloaf. Managers need to pay attention to the job attitudes of their

employees and create an organizational environment that supports workers and ensures

that employees feel their work is meaningful. If employees feel as if they are integral

members of an organization, they will be motivated to stay on task and get the job done.

When it comes to cyberloafing in the 21st century workplace, it is a two way

street. Both employees and management influence employee cyberloafing behavior.

Instead of simply blaming employees for being idle and having poor self-control, we

also need to look to management to create an honest, exciting environment in which

employees feel like they and their work are valued.

Design Goals

The goal of the design is to develop solutions to manage Cyberloafing in a way

that incorporates the needs of the employee and of the manager. The design goals are

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 21 based on research into employee motives for cyberloafing, current organizational

practices to deter cyberloafing, how cyberloafing affects productivity and the role that

managers and employers play in employee cyberloafing. The design to leverage both

employee and employers needs is to introduce short cyber-breaks, regulated by an

application.

Final Design

The Internet has changed the face of the 21st century workplace and with these

changes comes the need to adopt our policies. Conventionally, workers have been

allowed cigarette or coffee breaks and employers have understood the need behind this.

We are proposing that we introduce a new type of break for the new generation of

employees. This being said, there should be two 15 minute regulated cyber breaks.

Studies from research done by University of Singapore and Copenhagen researchers

respectively revealed that cyberloafing enhances productivity by refreshing and

revitalizing workers from a monotonous work routine. These breaks will help create a

more compassionate, humanized work environment, which will in turn enhance

productivity.

Implementation. A cyber break app (see appendix) will be installed onto the

workplace computers. Employees will be able to put in the time that they start their

break, and then there will be a running clock on the top of their computer screen. This

app will ensure that employees do not become lost in the cyber world and are conscious

of the amount of time that they are spending loafing. It will also allow the managers to

regulate the cyber breaks. The cyber breaks are open to any type of Internet surfing, not

including the sites that the organization had identified as being inappropriate

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 22 (pornography, hateful websites, ect.) in the Internet Appropriate Use Policies. Since

many employees will use the cyber breaks to fulfill needs in their personal lives, the app

will come with a feature that allows employees to make a checklist of outstanding needs.

Some of these needs might include purchasing a plane ticket or looking up restaurants to

go out for dinner.

Communication. Managers need to communicate the cyber breaks through face-

to-face meetings or seminars, depending on the size of the organization. This will give

them the opportunity to explain the purpose and procedure of the cyber breaks and to

respond to any questions, comments or concerns. The managers will explain that this is

not a traditional monitoring system, but a way to step away from that and foster a

healthier, more trusting environment. The cyber breaks will also be included and

outlined in the Internet Appropriate Use Policies.

Evaluation. Employees will be provided an anonymous survey before and after

the cyber breaks are instilled. The survey will be disseminated through the intranet, so

that employees feel more anonymous and in turn more comfortable being honest with

their answers. The survey will ask employees about job satisfaction, stress levels,

perceived productivity and motivation rates and Internet habits in the workplace. The

survey will be sent out again after the cyber breaks have been implemented to see if

answers have changed. We will conclude that the breaks were effective if answers are

more positive in nature. Employees will also be encouraged to use the comment feature

on the intranet to write feedback about how they feel the cyber breaks have impacted

their work experience. Managers can also use performance assessments to gauge whether

or not employee performance has improved after the implementation of the cyber breaks.

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 23

Appendix

CYBERLOAFING AND PRODUCTIVITY 24

Cyber Break application prototype

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