Bloomberg

In their assessments, experts based their estimates on the fact that by the end of 2012, the number of Russians using social networks had reached 51.8 million people (although there is a higher estimate – 57.8 million). According to the ComScore study, in 2012, Russians spent an average of 25.6 minutes a day (12.8 hours a month) on social networks, including at work.

As Igor Nikolaev, director of the FBK Institute for Strategic Analysis, explained to Vedomosti, the experts proceeded from the assumption that users spend approximately equal time at work and at home.

According to FBK calculations, in 2012, each active user of social networks lost 3,187.2 minutes, or 53.1 hours of work time (a little more than an hour each week of the year). FBK analysts calculated the lower and upper limits of losses from switching workers' interests based on the structure of social network use in different industries and average values for the economy as a whole: at the lower limit, the amount of economic damage was 281.7 billion rubles, at the upper limit - 311.5 billion rubles.

"Of course, this is an approximate estimate. In order to name exact figures, a detailed study of the social network audience is needed, data on the time spent in them by representatives of each audience segment, data on the size of the salaries of such workers, etc.," Nikolaev continues. "Nevertheless, our estimate allows us to judge the scale of the losses."

In his opinion, the misuse of working time entails very specific economic losses: the employer is essentially paying for the employee to sit on a social network.

Assessing the structure of social media use by workers in different industries, FBK experts come to the conclusion that the greatest economic damage was caused by those working in finance and real estate transactions, rent and services (67.9 billion rubles), in second place were workers in education (39.8 billion rubles), in third place were public administration and military security and social insurance (36.6 billion rubles). The most insignificant economic losses were caused by Russians active in social networks, engaged in agriculture and forestry (0.9 billion rubles). "According to some (controversial) studies, this leads to a significant decrease in labor productivity - to restore labor productivity after a break, more than 20 minutes are needed, and such losses are generally difficult to measure," Nikolaev notes. "Compared to similar estimates for the United States and Great Britain, economic losses from social networks in Russia do not look so great (annual losses of the US economy from social networks are estimated at $650 billion). But if we compare it with some federal budget expenditure items, Russia's losses are very large. They are comparable to annual appropriations for transport support or half of the federal budget expenditure on education," Nikolaev notes.

Pavel Bezruchko, CEO of Ecopsy Consulting, does not fully agree with his colleagues' approach to assessing the role of social networks. He reminds us that today many companies have pages on social networks, and recruiters, advertisers, and representatives of other business sectors actively use social networks to communicate with partners and find new clients. The expert believes that blocking access to social networks in these cases is simply stupid. In his opinion, blocking social networks in industries where there is no particular need for such communications is also not worth it. "If you block channels in the work network, people will go to the social network via a phone or tablet computer," Bezruchko believes. "If people do not want to work, they will not work; instead of communicating on social networks, they will read a book or do cross-stitching." He advises engaging people in work so that they do not want to waste their working time on entertainment.

"At Nordea Bank, access to social networks for employees is limited, provided only to those who need it for work. For example, employees responsible for communications that must be online on corporate pages in social networks, marketers and some others," explains Irina Levitina, head of the corporate communications center.

Deputy CEO of Bazel Victoria Petrova is skeptical about FBK's calculations, she is sure that the vast majority of Internet users use social networks outside of work. "All large companies have long blocked access to social networks from corporate computers," she is sure. Petrova herself is happy to follow the news and exchange information with colleagues and friends via social networks, but only outside of work hours.

"Of course, access to individual pages and resources is certainly regulated and agreed upon taking into account the functionality and status of each individual employee in the company," says Optima Group HR Director Olga Zherdeva. "But for those employees who use the Internet daily for professional purposes, we have no restrictions. On the contrary, we encourage interest in news about the company's projects and achievements, and therefore discussions and reposts of publications and news about the company often take place directly online."

“We do not directly control the presence of employees in social networks; in practice, this is impossible,” says Yulia Smirnova, HR Director at Reckitt Benckiser in Russia and the CIS. “But, naturally, we try to explain to employees that there is confidential information about the company’s activities or their position that is prohibited from being posted for public access even on professional resources and personal pages.”

Kelly Services CEO Ekaterina Gorokhova believes it is stupid to restrict access to social networks: “In our recruiting business, social networks allow us to find candidates for vacancies, study information about them, and receive recommendations about them from their colleagues and employers.” Gorokhova does not believe it is necessary to strictly control what employees do on social networks: in the end, the results of their work are important.

FBK itself does not prohibit employees from accessing social networks. Nikolaev believes that employers do not necessarily technically block social networks, but it is necessary to count the time employees spend on these sites, especially since it is not difficult from a technical point of view: "The employer must know what their subordinates do during working hours." The expert is sure that, understanding that they are being monitored, employees are unlikely to open a social network page again.

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