Social media is a huge part of our lives, whether it be updating our own personal accounts,using Twitter or YouTube for work-related business or purely scrolling through timelines out of boredom, most of us look at social media on a daily basis. And whilst many people use it for work, there are plenty of us that are drawn into checking our personal accounts when we should be working.
There are a number of companies that have recognized the temptations of social media at work and allow their employees 10-15 minutes to go on their phones, check their social media and do what they have to do. This appears to be a fairly new incentive, that employers hope will boost productivity and create an open company culture. Allowing employees this time means they may be more motivated to work harder after checking their Twitter and getting back to their friend on Facebook. It also creates a bond of trust and allows employees to feel like their personal lives are being taken into account and valued at work.
However, although some companies are taking the social media age in their stride, there are others that still wholly frown on people updating their Instagram and scrolling through Reddit when they should be working. It’s a debate that divides many offices, with some people believing that checking social media is only the same as having a quick non-work related conversation with a colleague, and the other half believing that being on your phone and scrolling through social media is a waste of company time and a massive distraction from the work you should be doing.
Whatever your stance on the issue, it goes without saying that many of us are guilty of checking our phones, whether frowned upon by our boss or not. And whilst many of us may think a couple of minutes on a social media account isn’t going to have much of an impact on a working day, those minutes can stack up fast and actually end up costing your boss. It was reported in 2017 that British people spend on average 37 minutes browsing social media daily – which equates to around 3 hours and 5 minutes of the working week! If we take into account the average UK annual salary, which was reported to be £27,600 in 2015, along with the average 35 minutes spent on social media, the average Brit is costing their boss around £2,300 a year…
With this in mind, Digital ID have created an interactive calculator that allows you to see just how much your social media dependency is costing your boss. Simply enter your annual salary and the number of minutes you spend out of your working day on social media (when you should be working) and the calculator will do the working out!
(It’s clear that many people will use social media as part of their job role and also check their accounts during lunch and breaks, however, this calculator is purely looking into the times when you should be working and not checking any personal social accounts.)
Read ahead to find out more…
