A widely publicized concern among employers is that their staff spends time on the Internet at work for personal activities. Employees do in fact use the Internet at work for personal business, but they report spending more time at home on the Internet for work-related purposes. Those with online access at both home and at work spend an average of 3.7 hours per week engaged in personal online activities while at the job. But they spend an average of 5.9 hours per week online at home for work-related purposes. Thus, the Internet seems to have a net effect of shifting work to home more than personal activities to work.
Looking at the shift in time in a different way, of those who have computer access at both home and work, 47% spend more time using the Internet at home for work purposes than at work for personal reasons. Only 27% spend more time on personal pursuits than they give back at work. And, 25% report shifting their hours between venues evenly, spending as much time on personal business at work as on work business at home.
When people have access at work but not at home, they may take advantage of the work access for personal reasons – such workers conduct an average of 6.5 hours of personal business at work (although the sample size is small). However, people with home access but no work access may also use their home system for work, an average of 3.7 hours (again, a small sample size).
Looking across all working adults, those workers with Internet access at home (including those with access at both work and home) spend 5.3 hours per week at home on work activities. Working adults with Internet access at work (including those with access at both work and home) spend an average of 4.4 hours per week on personal activities at work.
– Home Internet Usage for Work Purposes | ||
Hours/week on Net while at home for work-related purposes | Hours/week on Net while at work for personal reasons | |
Base: Employees with online access at home/both home and work Mean | (125)5.9 hours | (122)3.7 hours |
Base: Employees with online access at home only Mean | (35)*3.7 hours | NA |
Base: Employees with online access at work only Mean | NA | (27)*6.5 hours |
Base: All Adults with Mean | (160)5.3 hours | (149)4.4 hours |
| Note: responses do not include people who were unable to estimate the hours.*Caution: small sample size | ||
These findings are an interesting indication of how our work lives are changing as the Internet grows. The underlying reasons for choice of venue are complex, and while we did not ask for more specific information in this survey, we can offer some hypotheses. Home activity at work: Many people may conduct personal business at work because the workplace offers more desirable infrastructure such as high-speed connections. And, most modern PCs still require an effort to boot up, so consumers may be more likely to conduct personal business on the job where their computer is on all day. The growth in e-services creates new reasons to go online that might be conducted during the workday. Work activity at home: In the other direction, computers give workers newfound freedom. For example, a person can now leave the job early enough to have dinner with the family, and finish up business on the Internet afterwards. This might include checking email, conducting research, ordering travel or purchasing things for work. Workers may also telecommute, and telecommuting may be spontaneous or temporary, such as staying at home in the morning to catch up without distractions.
Additional information can be found at the University of Maryland Center for e-Service site. For a copy of the full report, contact Gina Woodall, President at 703-757-5213 ext. 11 or gwoodall@rockresearch.com, or Charles Colby, Chief Methodologist and Founder, at 703.757.5213 ext. 12 or ccolby@rockresearch.com.