Social networking improves productivity, new research finds

Study finds workers who surf social media sites are 39 per cent more productive than those who do not

IT leaders who restrict employee access to social media sites are not doing their employers any favours, according to new research.

An experiment by the National University of Singapore found that workers who are allowed access to social media sites are 39 per cent more productive than those who are not.

They were also less mentally exhausted and bored, and more psychologically engaged, the research found.

"Managers must recognise that blanket policies that prohibit all forms of personal web usage are ineffective, and excessive monitoring is likely to be counterproductive," the researchers said.

"Instead, a limited amount of personal web use should be allowed, since it has a salubrious impact on employees' productivity."

The researchers conducted two experiments involving 96 participants. Half were allowed social media and gaming site access and half were not.

During the experiment, the participants were told to highlight specific letters within documents of lengthy text. They were then told to fill in a questionnaire measuring their levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and psychological engagement.