By David ssempijja

FACEBOOK, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut and Linkedin, are all great sites for socialising and meeting new people. They are also enemies of schools and workplaces, as their IT departments desperately try to prevent students and employees from switching from their Excel spreadsheets to their Facebook profiles.

According to a survey by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) in India, the productivity of Indian office workers and firms has dropped due to use of social networks.

Nearly 4,000 Indian office workers were questioned in the survey carried out by the Social Development Foundation, ASSOCHAM. The survey results indicate that “an average corporate employee spends an hour glued to various social networking sites” for “romancing or getting some satisfaction out of it.”

This means that the average working day of an office employee drops from eight hours to seven hours.

ASSOCHAM commented that the “majority” of corporations “effectively lose close to 12.5% of total productivity each day since their employees keep accessing social sites.” It, however, says some IT companies have already installed software to restrict social networking site use.

The survey also revealed that 77% of the almost 4,000 employees questioned, who had an Orkut account, had used it during office hours, while 83% of those questioned said they did not see a problem with social networking during working hours.

What seems odd is that 19% of companies allow social networking use for “businesses purposes” only, and 16% of them limit personal use.

The survey claimed 40% of the employees questioned said that their employer did not restrict social networking in the workplace at all.
“This is important, especially professions like secretaries and healthcare workers who at times get huge heaps of workload from their seniors.”

Good parenting style used can also help when children are taught about the challenges of the world earlier in life.

Nsereko says employers also need to have clear job description and good time management skills so that employees can meet their demands without burning out. Workplans need to be used so that workers can know what to do and at what time.

“But for a person already suffering from work burnout, she/he should be given leave to rest.

“Workplaces also need to employ councillors to address the emotional and psychological needs of their workers since the stressing nature of modern work requires professional help,” he says.

According the American Management Association website, www.amanet.org, rotating jobs, or seat locations, can safeguard employees from burnouts.
“Performance usually improves when you move people to another physical location. Also, the change in job location may bring a change in responsibilities, which provides people with new challenges and goals.”

Teach people to visualise. Employees can take a “mini-mental vacation” when things get hectic or overwhelming. After this short break they will return relaxed and revitalised.