Social Media Costing UK Economy Up To 14 Billion Pounds

Research has suggested that up to 6% or two million, of the UK's 34 million-strong workforce spend over an hour per day on social media whilst at work, amounting to more than one eighth of their entire working day.

MyJobGroup.co.uk, which polled 1,000 UK workers, has warned that Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks could potentially be costing the UK up to £14 billion in lost work time, with SMEs likely to be hardest hit by the drop in productivity.

The survey also revealed that more than half (55%) of the UK's working population now accesses social media whilst at work, with a third of those (roughly six million) spending more than 30 minutes on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.

However, only 14% of respondents felt they were being less productive as a result of social media and 10% claimed social media had made them more productive.

Lee Fayer, Managing Director of Myjobgroup.co.uk said: "Our results clearly show that UK workers are spending increased time whilst at work on social media networks, which, left unchecked, could have negative repercussions on the productivity of many companies across the country.

"Whilst we're certainly not kill-joys, people spending over an hour per day in work time on the likes of Facebook and Twitter are seriously hampering companies' efforts to boost productivity, which is more important than ever given the fragile state of our economy.

"Companies would do well to monitor use of social networking sites during work hours and ensure that their employees are not abusing their freedom of access to these sites."

Source: workplacelaw.net