Employees who spend time on social networking sites while at work could be costing firms over £130 million each day in lost productivity, according to a survey.

Sites such as Facebook and MySpace use up a total of 233 million working hours each month as many employees are found to be "wasting time" on such sites, employment law firm Peninsula found.

The study, which compiled data from 3,500 businesses across the UK, concluded that businesses need to take firm action on the use of social networks at work. Some firms have already banned employees from accessing Facebook.

Mike Huss, the director of employment law at Peninsula, said: "Why should employers allow their workers to waste two hours a day on Facebook when they are being paid to do a job? If a company can police the system, and only allow limited access during lunch breaks then that is fine. However I think it would be easier and less expensive to ban access altogether."

A recent survey by internet analyst comScore found that found that the total number of UK visitors to social networking sites reached 31.8 million in July.

Categories: Broadband, Business Broadband

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