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Effectively Managing Cyberloafing in the 21st Century Workplace Tanisha Graves, Kalok Lai, Hana Raskin, Catherine Skovron Ithaca College

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& Abstract

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Much attention has been focused on whether or not cyberloafing- the personal use of Internet in the workplace- enhances or hinders productivity. This study assumes that cyberloafing is a reality of the 21st century workplace and aims to understand why employees cyberloaf in the workplace and how employers and managers should respond to this critical issue. The research revealed that employee cyberloafing is often a result of their perception of the environment that they work in, including the way in which they are treated and managed. This research and proposed solution, aims to change peoples perceptions of cyberloafing from a nonproductive, time-wasting activity, to a stressrelieving break in the work day that could, in fact, increase employee productivity overall.

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& Effectively Managing Cyberloafing In The 21st Century Workplace As we move further into the 21st century, the Internet is becoming increasingly pervasive in the home and the workplace. According to a study by the Pew Internet &

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American Research Project, as of May 2011, 78 percent of American adults (18+) use the Internet, compared to only 14 percent in June 1995, a 64 percent increase. The advent of the Internet and the debut of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, has transformed the American businesses model and the modern workplace (Wallace, 2004). From Intranets to cyber-conferencing to social media to search engines, the Internet has changed the way in which organizations communicate and the way in which employees do work. As companies become more dependent on the Internet for business, they face the challenge of ensuring that employees are using the Internet for work-related purposes. A recent survey by Careerbuilder, among 4,384 workers and 2,696 employers in U.S. companies revealed that 65 percent of workers spend at least some time conducting nonwork related Web searches in a typical workday, and 22 percent find themselves conducting non-work related Web searches at least five times a day. The survey also found that 22 percent of employers have fired someone for using the Internet for nonwork related activity. Cyberloafing, a term coined by Vivien K.G. Lim of the Department of Management and Organization at the National University of Singapore Business School, describes the act of employees using their companies Internet access for personal purposes during work hours (Lim, 2002). The word loafing carries an explicitly negative connotation. Loafing is defined as idling ones time away in aimless loitering

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& (Wordreference). This being said, even the research that argues that cyberloafing has a positive impact on employee productivity employs a term that suggests the contrary.

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Cyberloafing is often considered to be a fruitless waste of company resources, because as Benjamin Franklin once said, time is money. It presents a challenge to the protestant work ethic that has shaped the United States workforce since the sixteenth century (Kidwell, 2010). The protestant work ethic, best summed up by this quote, suggests that a person who was indifferent and displayed idleness was most certainly one of the damned, but a person who was active, austere, and hard-working gave evidence to himself and to others that he was one of God's chosen ones (Tilgher, 1930). At the same time, others see cyberloafing as part of the bohemian work ethic, in which leisure, pleasure and happiness take precedence over a constant preoccupation with ones job (Kidwell, 2010). From a business standpoint, every time an employee goes on Facebook or shops for shoes on Ebay, is a loss of profit. Research suggests that 34 million U.S. workers regularly partake in cyberloafing, which results in a productivity loss of 200.6 million hours per week (Lim & Chen, 2009). This loss has been valued to cost companies on average 54 billion dollars per year. As a result, businesses are cracking down on cyberloafing by employing different methods to deter employees from misusing the Internet. Several of these strategies include banning websites and monitoring employee Internet usage and email. The underlying assumption is that an employee should not be using the Internet for personal reasons during work hours. A manager walking around an office will likely see employees quickly minimizing windows, afraid to get caught doing the taboo.

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& However, recent research suggests that cyberloafing might actually increase employee productivity. Studies from the National University of Singapore and the

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University of Copenhagen contradicted the widely held notion that cyberloafing is just an idle-waste of time. We will discuss the studies in more detail later on in the paper. As evident from the fore-mentioned statistics and research studies, there is no clear-cut answer as to whether or not cyberloafing enhances or hinders productivity. But something that is certain is that it is a reality of the 21st century digital workplace. As the next generation, the Millenials, enter the workforce, cyberloafing will likely become more of a hotbed issue. The Millenials are the first generation that has grown up with smart phones, computers and the Internet, which means more technologically savvy workers, but also introduces new problems of Internet addiction and dependency. This being said, cyberloafing is becoming an increasingly pertinent issue in organizations. There need to be new solutions for the changing workplace that address the issue in a way that incorporates the needs of both the employee and employer.

Research Questions The following questions were developed to get an idea of how cyberloafing affects employee productivity, what motivates employees to use the Internet for personal reasons, and to develop a more effective model for managing internet use in the 21st century workplace by taking into account both the needs of the employee and of the employer.

Why do people use the Internet for personal reasons at work? What effect does cyberloafing have on employee productivity?

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What are current business practices to limit the occurrence of cyberloafing? What role do employers and managers have in employee cyberloafing activities?

Methods To get a better idea of current theories and opinions concerning cyberloafing in the workplace, the researchers conducted interviews with several experts in the technology field. Robin Raskin is the former editor of PC Magazine and Editor in Chief of FamilyPC. Shes been a columnist for USA Today Online and has authored six books about parenting in the digital age. David Weil is the Director of Network Application Services at Ithaca College. Weil oversees the ITS division of Enterprise Application Services whose staff are responsible for supporting Ithaca Colleges main business and web applications. To support the information collected from the interviews with the guest experts, the researchers consulted scholarly articles, surveys that explicitly stated research methods, and journalistic articles in reputable news sources like the New York Times. The scholarly articles were used to analyze existing research on cyberloafing in the workplace and gather background information, study results and expert opinions. The researchers used surveys that had been done by companies and research institutes to present quantified research. The researchers used the journalistic articles, because these articles included interviews with experts and subject narratives.

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& Results Why do people use the Internet for personal reasons at work?

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Fading line between home and work life. With the influx of technology, the line between home and work life has become blurred. Often times, people find themselves checking and answering work emails either at home or on their smart phones while they are out. According to the eRoi Email Addiction Survey, in 2006 61 percent of people check their email while on vacation, while 62 percent of people check work email on the weekends. It is glaringly obvious that work has permeated the home life. Robin Raskin compares the current day work structure with the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. She says that during agricultural times, life and work was essentially the same thing. Farmers lived where they worked and worked where they lived. When the Industrial Revolution came around, workers would leave their house in the morning to go to work, bringing their lunches with them. When they got home at the end of the workday, they had time entirely separate from their work life. Todays workplace is more complicated. Now, people expect immediate responses to emails and other business relations, which requires employees to be accessible and connected 24/7. Cyberloafing is a natural part of the modern day employee-business relationship, Raskin says. If companies are asking people to always be available and to check their work email at home, it is hard for companies to tell people that they cannot do their personal bidding in the workplace. The psychology behind cyberloafing. To develop effective policies to manage Internet use and cyberloafing, it is important to understand the subconscious reasons that people use the Internet for personal reasons at work. We have examined several

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& psychological theories to help us understand possible roots of the problem. In The Psychology of Cyberloafing, Dr. Shreekumar K. Nair, Associate Professor at National Institute of Industrial Engineering in Mumbai, outlines four theories to explain why employees are tempted to use their companies internet for personal reasons: Social exchange theory. This theory proposes that social behavior is the result of an exchange process to maximize benefits and minimize costs. People compare what they input into a relationship to what outcome they receive. If employees feel like they are investing more than they are receiving in return, whether it is monetary compensation, recognition, or fair treatment, then they will be less motivated to input and more likely to cyberloaf. Organizational justice. Organizational justice is an analysis of whether the exchange processes, which occur in an organization are fair or just. There are three main types of organizational justice: Distributive justice, which is the allocation of outcomes like promotions and wages. An employee who just saw their coworker get promoted might ask: did I deserve that promotion more than my coworker? Procedural justice is the perceived fairness of the process that leads to the distribution of outcomes. That same employee might ask: did my boss choose him because he has a personal relationship with him outside of work? Interactional justice refers to the quality of

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interpersonal treatment received by employees. The employee might ask more generally, how does my boss treat me? Nair suggests that employees are more likely to engage in misconduct, or in this case, cyberloafing, when they feel they are being unjustly treated or that the outcomes are not allocated as they should be.

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& Neutralization techniques. Nair also suggests that people have an innate desire to present themselves in a positive light to both themselves and others. When an

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employee sees an imbalance in their relationship with the employer, they are more likely to use neutralization techniques. A neutralization technique is a rationalization that an employee might use to convince themselves and others that a deviant behavior is justifiable. One way that an employee might internally justify cyberloafing is by reminding his or her self that he is just doing what his colleagues are doing. Metaphor of the ledger. The final theory is called metaphor of the ledger, which is when employees rationalize that they are entitled to engage in deviant behaviors because of past good behaviors. A student might also employ metaphor of the ledger if they receive a good grade on a test and decide that it is okay to skip that class the next day. Nair suggests that employees see their services as accumulated credits to be encashed in exchange for rewards which have been implicitly or explicitly promised by the organization. If an employee feels as if they have acquired credits through good behavior and work, and have not been appreciated through allocation of awards and organizational justice then they can internally justify their cyberloafing. Nairs theories suggest that employee cyberloafing rests heavily on organizational justice and perceived environmental conditions. This supports the idea that cyberloafing is not simply a matter of employees not having self-control, but is a reaction to the way they are managed and treated in the organization. Environment and motivation. Another theory, which supports the idea that workplace environment plays an important role in employees cyberloafing habits, is the idea that cyberloafing is a coping response to stress. Stress is defined as being a normal

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& psychophysical response to demanding or taxing events in the environment (Selye,

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1974). High levels of stress in the workplace can lead to lower levels of motivation and a general sense of dissatisfaction with the job or task at hand. The environmental demands are referred to as stressors, while consequences are referred to as strains (Henle & Blanchard, 2008). The intermediary is called coping. Coping can essentially stop a stressor from becoming a strain. According to researchers Henle and Blanchard, employees are using cyberloafing to cope with the stressors that they encounter in their work. In their research, they suggest that cyberloafing is a coping mechanism for role ambiguity and role conflict. Role ambiguity is defined as an uncertainty regarding job duties and expectations and a lack of guidelines for appropriate behavior. Role conflict refers to contradictory or incompatible demands in the workplace, which can include conflicts between work demands and personal values. Henle and Blanchard suggest that according to the parameters of Social Learning Theory, cyberloafing will be less likely to occur if there are clear organizational sanctions regarding cyberloafing. Social Learning Theory suggests that individuals learn appropriate behavioral responses over time by observing the behavior and resulting consequences of others in the workplace (Bandura, 1977). Therefore, if the organization outlines specific rules regarding cyberloafing and enforces those rules, the attitudes and behavior of employees will follow suit and cyberloafing will be less likely to be used as a coping mechanism to environmental and workplace stress. This research suggests the importance of a comprehensive Internet Appropriate Use Guide, which is adapted into the organization culture and lays out what is expected of employees and the company policies regarding Internet use.

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Science of attention in an information age. The Internet has opened the door to an endless supply of information, which has both positive and negative ramifications for workplace productivity. Employees can now research and find the answer to practically any question or problem online. But the sheer volume of online content can be thoroughly overwhelming. The concept of information overload was introduced by futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970, when he predicted that the increasing amount of information would eventually cause problems. Those problems have materialized in our shortened attention spans. Scientists have begun to look into how many calculations we can handle at the same time. David Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, found that our brains have begun to adapt to the multitasking lifestyle that we must now live to keep up with the world. This does not imply that we are now better at multitasking, however. Meyer, along with other researchers, have proven that multitasking is actually a myth. We are never actually doing two tasks at once, but rather switching rapidly between them. This causes us to lose mental efficiency. Meyer explains: Our brains process information on a variety of different channels; visual, auditory, and so on and each channel can only process one stream of information at a time. If you overburden a channel, the brain becomes inefficient and mistake-prone (Anderson, 2009). The classic example is driving while talking on a cell phone, two tasks that conflict across a range of obvious channels: Steering and dialing are both manual tasks, looking out the windshield and reading a phone screen are both visual, etc. Trying to process multiple streams of information simultaneously from the Internet and your phone will result in slower productivity and will be more likely to make

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& mistakes. This is troubling news for the culture that we are all a part of presently. The tech theorist Linda Stone famously coined the phrase continuous partial attention to describe our newly exhausted state of mind. Stone explains: American office workers dont stick with any single task for more than a few minutes at a time; if left uninterrupted, they will most likely interrupt themselves. Since every interruption costs around 25 minutes of

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productivity, we spend nearly a third of our day recovering from them. We keep an average of eight windows open on our computer screens at one time and skip between them every twenty seconds (Anderson, 2009). This research suggests that we are not only losing time and money due to information overload, but the influx of technology in the workplace has managed to reprogram our brains to involuntarily interrupt tasks at an alarming rate. As it is, employees spend an average of 1.1 hours per day lost in the unproductive locating of information (Infocentric, 2011). In the model below, it is made evident that this superfluous and scattered information can lead to frustration and motivational problems. This frustration can cause employees to become more easily distracted and surf the Internet for personal purposes. If managers want employees to cyberloaf less then there need to be knowledge management systems implemented to help employees readily find the information they need and to avoid continuous partial attention.

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(Infocentric Research, 2011) What effect does cyberloafing have on employee productivity? Cyberloafing and worker productivity. Researchers continue to flounder with whether or not cyberloafing hinders or enhances productivity. There have been numerous statistics that have demonstrated the loss of productivity in hours and the financial implications for a company. But recent research into employee productivity based on Internet use has uncovered that cyberloafing might in fact improve productivity. The research takes a more humanized and employee-focused approach than the manager, profit focused research that came before it. The results of the study done by researchers Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G. Lim from the National University of Singapore, concluded that cyberloafing boosts productivity and that there needs to be a paradigm shift for dealing with cyberloafing in organizations. The study was completed in two sections: one was an experiment with

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& undergraduate management students and the other a survey of working adults

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(Haimowitz, 2011). In the student experiment, 96 participants were randomly assigned to three groups: a control group, rest-break group and a browsing-the-Internet group. The subjects were all assigned to spend 20 minutes highlighting Es in a text of 3,500 words. After, the control group was assigned to bundle sticks into groups of fives, the rest-break group could do anything besides use the Internet, which included doing things like making phone calls or going to the bathroom. The third group was allowed to spend 10 minutes browsing pre-selected websites, which offered things like news, social networking and entertainment. Afterwards, participants were instructed to spend 10 minutes highlighting As in 2,000 words of text, which was a proxy for productivity. After the experiment, the subjects were given a questionnaire to measure their levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and psychological engagement (Haimowitz, 2011). The researchers concluded that the Internet-browsing group was significantly more productive than the control and rest-break group; they were 16 percent more productive than the restbreak group and 39 percent more productive than the control group. The web-browsers had lower levels of mental exhaustion and higher levels of psychological engagement, according to the survey. In the second part of the study, alumni of a business school were randomly selected and were mailed a survey about their activities at work, mainly about the amount of Internet browsing and e-mailing, their psychological engagement at work, and their mental state immediately after cyberloafing (Haimowitz, 2011). 191 alumni mailed in surveys, which revealed that the amount of Internet browsing was positively related to upbeat mental states as excited, interested, alert, and active and inversely related to

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states such as distressed, fearful, and hostile. Both of the studies supported the idea that Internet browsing is refreshing and improves peoples psychological states and focus. In conclusions, the researchers urged companies to "strike a middle ground between work and cyberloafing... allow[ing] for personal Web usage as long as it is in line with business objectives. In light of this study, an acceptable Internet use policy would allow for periodic Web browsing while limiting the access to personal e-mails." Another study done by a team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen also revealed that cyberloafing might actually be positively correlated with productivity. The study had participants watch videos of people passing balls and count the number of passes. First they were presented with a distraction. One group was given a funny video that came up on their screens. The other group was given a message on the screen that said a funny video was available by clicking on the button, but they were told not to watch it. After ten minutes, the people in the second group could hear the people in the first group laughing from the video. The groups were then given the task of counting the number of ball passes. Those in the second group who had not had the opportunity to watch the video made far more mistakes than the first group (Surowiecki, 2011). According to James Surowiecki, author of In Praise of Distraction, the premise behind the results is the idea that, will power is a limited resource: if we spend lots of energy controlling our impulses in one area, it becomes harder to control our impulses in others. Or, as the psychologist Roy Baumeister puts it, will power is like a muscle: overuse temporarily exhausts it. The implication is that asking people to regulate their behavior without interruption (by, say, never going online at work) may very well make them less focused and less effective (Surowiecki, 2011). Basically, distraction can be refreshing

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and can increase performance. When people sit and work on a project for hours without any mental breaks, generally the quality of the work will decrease as energy and focus drains. Based on results from the experiment, Copenhagen experimenters have actually proposed a similar solution to Lim and Chen, which is implementing short cyber-breaks, like the outmoded coffee break of the Nineteenth century. As Surowiecki says: The basic insightthat giving people some respite from difficult tasks, along with the chance to let their minds wander, will make them more productiveremains true. Sometimes, it turns out, you have to take your eye off the ball in order to hit it (2011). Both the study by the team at the National University of Singapore and the Copenhagen Institute suggest that providing regulated cyber breaks, or allowing employees to cyberloaf a little while on the job will actually increase employee productivity by energizing and revitalizing them. What are current business practices to deter the occurrence of cyberloafing? Surveillance monitoring. Electronic surveillance is the use of computerized systems to automatically collect, store, analyze and report information about employee behavior (Riedy & Wen, 2010). It is no secret that in todays workplace, many employers closely monitor their employees Internet usage to ensure that they are remaining on task and not cyberloafing. Employee monitoring is becoming increasingly popular due to the more frequent occurrence of cyberloafing, the amount of attention that is beginning to surround the issue, as well as the development of better, more complex monitoring technologies. According to a 2007 survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) and the Epolicy Institute, 66 percent of employers are

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& monitoring Internet connections. And, 65 percent of companies use software to block connections to inappropriate websites - a 27 percent increase since 2001. The table below gives an outline of different electronic surveillance technology that employers use to keep tabs on their employees Internet habits.

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Monitoring Internet use is a double-edged sword. Monitoring allows businesses to avoid liability, and make sure that employees are not on inappropriate websites, like pornography or hate websites, or on any non-work related sites being unproductive. But at the same time, it gives businesses and employers the ability to essentially spy on their employees in a big brother fashion. This can cause problems like the invasion of the personal privacy of employees, leading employees to sneak around on work time, lowering the morale of employees and creating a hierarchal environment wherein employees fear upper management, all of which in turn hinder productivity (Ciochetti, 2011). However, in this age where any phone that is not smart is considered archaic, employees can find loopholes to the monitoring and banning of websites by using the Internet on their Blackberrys or iPhones. Surveillance might have an adverse effect on employee productivity, because when workers begin to feel that their employer does not trust them, their mental wellbeing is harmfully impacted (Riedy & Wen, 2010). Basically, employee motivation is intrinsically correlated to the way they perceive the environment of the organization. If the employees feel that they are not working in an honest, open environment, they are less likely to want to put their best foot forward for that organization. Internet Acceptable Use Policies. There are many reasons that organizations chose to adopt Internet Acceptable Use Policies (IAUP). Some of these reasons include loss of productivity, drain on bandwidth and computing resources by content downloaded from the Internet, and legal liability risks (Stewart). Some of the legal liability risks relate to protecting employees from hostile work environments with exposure to hateful or inappropriate websites. However, oftentimes companies introduce the Policy, but fail to

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effectively communicate it to employees and imbed the policies into the company culture and everyday practices. In most companies the initial notification takes the form of having each employee read the policy and sign an acknowledgement of receipt(Stewart), but according to Ira G. Rostenstein, a New York-based partner in the Employment Department of Orick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, companies need to reinforce the employees obligations on a regular basis. For example, some companies set up a short summary of the policy as a splash screen that appears for a brief period during boot-up and whenever an employee signs onto the Internet(Stewart). Basically, it is important that the policies become integrated into company culture and they are communicated frequently and effectively. It is also very important that the IAUP is organization-specific and that it aligns with the companys business goals and portrays an understanding of Internet usage objectives, specific risk profiles, and organizational culture (Stewart). Essentially, when it comes to developing an effective IAUP, one size does not fit all. What role do employers and managers have in employee cyberloafing activities? Problem lies with management. The increasingly digitalized workplace has put new strains on managers, who are responsible for ensuring that employees are productive and staying on task. The research that we have reviewed has revealed the paramount role that environmental conditions play in employee cyberloafing behavior. Managers and employers have a large part in creating and sustaining these environmental conditions. Robin Raskin believes that the problem of cyberloafing does in fact lie with management. She explains that if management cannot create an environment that is dynamic and invigorating in which employees would prefer to do the work rather than

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& surf the Internet, then thats what needs to change. Dave Weil agrees: we have a

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tendency to tune out when we as humans arent appropriately stimulated - be it by the book we are assigned to read, the professor teaching the course, or the meeting we are attending. Human beings do not like to be bored; if the current situation doesnt engage our minds, then we find something that does. Raskin also emphasizes the need for a human-focused management style, she says, that good managers have to work around the fact that people need a life and need to give them time to take care of things. She talks about the importance of building an honest and positive work environment; essentially, if employees like you, if they feel like they are being treated right and they want to work for you then they will be less likely to get off-task and cyberloaf. Managers need to pay attention to the job attitudes of their employees and create an organizational environment that supports workers and ensures that employees feel their work is meaningful. If employees feel as if they are integral members of an organization, they will be motivated to stay on task and get the job done. When it comes to cyberloafing in the 21st century workplace, it is a two way street. Both employees and management influence employee cyberloafing behavior. Instead of simply blaming employees for being idle and having poor self-control, we also need to look to management to create an honest, exciting environment in which employees feel like they and their work are valued.

Design Goals The goal of the design is to develop solutions to manage Cyberloafing in a way that incorporates the needs of the employee and of the manager. The design goals are

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& based on research into employee motives for cyberloafing, current organizational practices to deter cyberloafing, how cyberloafing affects productivity and the role that managers and employers play in employee cyberloafing. The design to leverage both employee and employers needs is to introduce short cyber-breaks, regulated by an application. Final Design The Internet has changed the face of the 21st century workplace and with these changes comes the need to adopt our policies. Conventionally, workers have been

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allowed cigarette or coffee breaks and employers have understood the need behind this. We are proposing that we introduce a new type of break for the new generation of employees. This being said, there should be two 15 minute regulated cyber breaks. Studies from research done by University of Singapore and Copenhagen researchers respectively revealed that cyberloafing enhances productivity by refreshing and revitalizing workers from a monotonous work routine. These breaks will help create a more compassionate, humanized work environment, which will in turn enhance productivity. Implementation. A cyber break app (see appendix) will be installed onto the workplace computers. Employees will be able to put in the time that they start their break, and then there will be a running clock on the top of their computer screen. This app will ensure that employees do not become lost in the cyber world and are conscious of the amount of time that they are spending loafing. It will also allow the managers to regulate the cyber breaks. The cyber breaks are open to any type of Internet surfing, not including the sites that the organization had identified as being inappropriate

,-./!0123456&257&8!179,:4;4:-& (pornography, hateful websites, ect.) in the Internet Appropriate Use Policies. Since

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many employees will use the cyber breaks to fulfill needs in their personal lives, the app will come with a feature that allows employees to make a checklist of outstanding needs. Some of these needs might include purchasing a plane ticket or looking up restaurants to go out for dinner. Communication. Managers need to communicate the cyber breaks through faceto-face meetings or seminars, depending on the size of the organization. This will give them the opportunity to explain the purpose and procedure of the cyber breaks and to respond to any questions, comments or concerns. The managers will explain that this is not a traditional monitoring system, but a way to step away from that and foster a healthier, more trusting environment. The cyber breaks will also be included and outlined in the Internet Appropriate Use Policies. Evaluation. Employees will be provided an anonymous survey before and after the cyber breaks are instilled. The survey will be disseminated through the intranet, so that employees feel more anonymous and in turn more comfortable being honest with their answers. The survey will ask employees about job satisfaction, stress levels, perceived productivity and motivation rates and Internet habits in the workplace. The survey will be sent out again after the cyber breaks have been implemented to see if answers have changed. We will conclude that the breaks were effective if answers are more positive in nature. Employees will also be encouraged to use the comment feature on the intranet to write feedback about how they feel the cyber breaks have impacted their work experience. Managers can also use performance assessments to gauge whether or not employee performance has improved after the implementation of the cyber breaks.

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Appendix

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Cyber Break application prototype

References

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