Australian employees waste time on social networks

New figures show Australian employees are spending too much on social networking sites chatting to friends through instant messaging programs instead of doing work.

New research undertaken by Telstra and security group MessageLabs shows that the number of times employers have blocked access to social networking sites has jumped from 2,000 per day 10 months ago, to currently 6,000 attempts per day.

The research also shows that the number of URLs blocked by companies has increased by 193% since January, with the majority being social networking sites.

Telstra Business executive director, Brian Harcourt, told ITWire.com.au that employees should be careful about what social networking sites they visit during the day.

“Tweeting, friending or poking your way through the working day may not be the best way to improve the productivity of those many small businesses which are battling to find a way through the challenging economy.”