Facebook update

It seems Hofflimits is at the vanguard of the backlash against Facebook - 2007's Friends Reunited. A company called Peninsula has published a PR story masquerading as serious research, estimating that Social Networking sites "cost" companies 233 million working hours in the UK. Mike Huss, director of employment law at Peninsula called on all firms to block access to sites such as Facebook, asking: "Why should employers allow their workers to waste two hours a day on Facebook when they are being paid to do a job?"

Ignoring the rather obvious point that Facebook no more created time-wasting at work than the 1960s created fornication, Mr Huss goes on to say that loss of productivity was proving a "major headache" for firms. However, according to a recent study, poor management, which contributed to 64% of wasted time, was the chief cause of low productivity in the UK, alongside insufficient planning (34%) and inadequate control and supervision (30%). The UK's productivity, at 63%, trailed that of the US and Germany at 64%, but was slightly ahead of France at 60% (although it seems we have to work twice as many hours to achieve this competitive edge). Nowhere in the top ten did "poking" your pals on Facebook enter into the equation.

Given this evidence, maybe the likes of Peninsula should steer its energies towards something more productive, like better management training. Maybe they could set up a forum to discuss ways of tackling low productivity with like-minded employers. I know just the website where they could meet such people...