Should You Block Websites to Improve Employee Productivity?

It’s hard to believe that the Internet has only been in widespread use since 1995. Now, for many business owners and managers – even those who are old enough to remember doing business in the days before the Internet – it’s hard to imagine how we ever got along without it. In many ways, this miracle of the modern age has proven to be a huge advantage to businesses of all sizes. Just consider all of the mundane chores and other business-related tasks that have been streamlined thanks to the Internet.

However, as with everything in life, there is a downside. For all the benefits it provides to businesses, the Internet has also presented a significant challenge to business owners and managers around the world: how do you keep employees from wasting time on the Internet during business hours? If you look at recent studies, you’ll find that the estimates of how much time employees waste on the Internet during the course of each workday are absolutely staggering. In fact, some studies suggest that as many as 44 percent of American workers waste about 2 hours a day on the Internet. Just imagine what this is costing your company!

Several business owners and managers have attempted to resolve the problem by using tools that block sites. Their thinking is, obviously, if their employees don’t have access to undesirable websites, then they’ll be more productive at work. This reasoning is faulty on many fronts. 

First of all, the tools currently available on the market that block websites often block entire categories of sites rather than just a few. Many times these sites are ones that could actually help your employees perform their jobs.

Secondly, the recent surge in popularity of both smart phone and tablet PC technology make it virtually impossible for you as a manager to block sites that your employees want to visit. While it is certainly possible to block websites on their work computers, you can’t (nor should you be able to) block sites on their smart phones and tablet PCs. Other recent studies suggest that the majority of American workers now carry smart phones with them every day. In other words, if your employees truly want to visit certain websites, they have the ability to do so no matter what actions you may take in an effort to stop them.

The third and even more important issue involves the real root of the problem, and that is a lack of motivation on the part of your employees. The only true resolution to the problem is to discover why your employees want to waste time and to find a way to motivate them to do a better job.

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