Can procrastination at work have positive consequences?

[zakiyatasnim]

A recent study found that actually doing personal things online while at work can be beneficial for productivity.

Most employees don’t spend 100% of their time in the office working. On average, employees spend 10% of their workday surfing the Internet, texting with friends, or shopping online. This “cyber-idling” costs employers up to $85 billion annually.

But in reality, just because an employee spends time online like this doesn't mean they're lazy. Stephanie Andel, an associate professor of psychology at Indiana University, and her colleagues conducted a study and qatar number data found that procrastinating online helps employees cope with work stress.

Cyberbullying and stress
In 2002, researchers at the National University of Singapore coined the term “cyberloafing.” This behavior is generally considered problematic and detrimental to productivity. That’s why all the research related to it is aimed at developing tools that would help combat it.

However, more recent research suggests that employees can benefit from using the internet at work for personal purposes. For example, when an employee is on social media, their job satisfaction increases .

Other studies suggest that social media can help employees cope with work-related stress. Many studies suggest that employees start social media at work out of boredom or because they have been given unclear instructions on what to do.


But does this lazy pastime really reduce stress? This is the question that scientists from four American universities tried to answer in their new study . They suggested that when employees start surfing the Internet at work, they are taking a mini-break and this gives them a chance to recover from stressful work situations.