One in three Belgian employees ignore Facebook ban

Limited access to social media and messaging apps on the work floor leads to disobedient employees, according to Datanews.be based on a study by Samsung.

A new pan-European study by Samsung Electronics surveyed 4,500 office workers and found that one-third of Belgian employees ignore restrictions on the use of social media, messaging apps and cloud services in the workplace.

The study shows that about 40% of office workers in Europe are not allowed to use Facebook at work, or are allowed only limited access to it. Nevertheless 31% of Belgian employees use Facebook during working hours. Approximately the same number of Belgian employees admitted to using cloud services at work (24%), as well as apps to call or chat (27%), video streaming services (23%) and Twitter (22%).

The research suggests that some European managers limit their employees’ Internet use due to a lack of confidence. "For safety, it is perfectly normal for employers to monitor the use of the technology by their employees to a certain extent," says consumer and business psychologist Dimitrios Tsivrikos of University College London.

"When they ignore the modern needs of their staff, however, it can have a negative impact on overall productivity and commitment,” says Tsivrikos. “The time when workers simply followed rules without asking questions is over."