Thaindian News

Beijing, June 18 (IANS) More than 50 percent of 500 office workers in Chinese business hub Shanghai have said their productivity goes down after using microblogs like Weibo during office hours, a survey has found.

However, among the rest of the over 200 employees, more than 73 percent disagreed that their work was affected by microblog use, the Shanghai Daily reported.

According to the survey by the 51job.com website, 54 percent officials said frequent pop-up messages distract workers.

They said they also worried about confidential information about new products being leaked on microblogs, or workers posting negative comments about salaries or bosses.

However, among the employees who said their work was not affected by microblog use, many agreed that a microblog helped them perform better as they see it as a new way of finding information.

The issue of microblog use at work was becoming common as more younger workers, who see a microblog “as an extension of themselves”, are being added to the workforce.

An investigation by the Shanghai Daily found that companies now check out employees’ microblog accounts.

Jennifer Feng, a senior analyst at 51job.com, said while managers blame microblogs for employee procrastination, they were in a dilemma about how to balance strict policies with their companies’ employee-friendly culture.

Tough rules and regulations will cause discontent among employees, who can still use their own cell phones to read and write on microblogs, Feng said.

Li Dan, a human resource specialist at an electronics company, said a lazy employee will not generate much performance even if he or she is sitting in front of the computer and there was no microblog.