Does banning personal internet use at work make us less productive?

To encourage worker productivity offices prohibit Internet use. Consequently, many employees delay Internet activity to the end of the workday. Recent work in social psychology, however, suggests that using willpower to delay gratification can negatively impact performance. We report data from an experiment where subjects in a Willpower Treatment are asked to resist the temptation to join others in watching a humorous video for 10 minutes. In relation to a baseline treatment that does not require willpower, we show that resisting this temptation detrimentally impacts economic productivity on a subsequent task.

Source: “Temptation at work” from Harvard Business School Working Paper 11-090

I’ve started posting extra content on the blog’s Facebook page. Don’t miss out; go here and hit the “Like” button.

You can also subscribe via email, RSS, or Twitter. Check out the site’s most popular posts of all time.

Does the way an office is decorated affect employee well-being and productivity?

How much does income affect job satisfaction? And how much does job satisfaction affect income?

Why you can’t work at work

Here’s why your boss is incompetent

Should you kiss ass at work if you’re not good at it?

Here is why companies should have unlimited vacation days

Do you work longer on rainy days?

Is this why we can do fun stuff for hours but work stresses us out?

How to make yourself more lucky