The vice president of human resources at Climpson Industries sent the following recommendation to the company’s president.
“A recent national survey found that the majority of workers with access to the Internet at work had used company computers for personal or recreational activities, such as banking or playing games. In an effort to improve our employees’ productivity, we should implement electronic monitoring of employees’ Internet use from their workstations. Using electronic monitoring software is the best way to reduce the number of hours Climpson employees spend on personal or recreational activities. We predict that installing software to monitor employees’ Internet use will allow us to prevent employees from wasting time, thereby increasing productivity and improving overall profits.”
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.
The vice president of human resources at Climpson Industries seems convinced that monitoring employees’ Internet use from their workstations is the best way to increase productivity. He states that a recent national survey found that the majority of workers with access to the Internet at work had used company computers for personal or recreational activities, such as banking or playing games. He considers this cheating, and he wants to put a stop to it. He is concerned that employees will waste time doing these things instead of concentrating on their jobs. The company president agrees, so he agrees to implement electronic monitoring software. However, before the company president can make a decision, he needs more information about why employees are using the Internet for personal use.
Does the vice president have any evidence that employees are actually wasting time on these activities? In order to make an informed decision, he would need to review the data. He might start with the number of employees using the Internet for personal or recreational purposes. If his survey included a total of 10,000 employees, then about 3,000 of those individuals may be using the Internet for personal or recreational purposes. He might then ask how many Internet activities employees do during their workday. If he knows that employees spend, on average, about an hour a day on the computer, then about 1,500 employees might be spending up to four hours surfing the Internet. If employees are also using the Internet for banking or playing games, then the number of hours spent on the Internet could be quite high.
When the vice president of human resources looks at the number of hours employees are spending online, he might be tempted to assume that employees are doing nothing else during their workday. However, he might want to measure the amount of time employees spend away from work. For instance, if employees spend an average of one hour a day online, then they might be spending an additional 18 hours each week at their jobs. If employees are also spending two hours each day commuting to work, then they are also spending eight hours each week away from their homes. If the vice president knows that employees spend an average of eight hours each week commuting, then he might want to account for this time when determining whether implementing electronic monitoring software is a good idea.
If the vice president of human resources has the answers to these questions, he might then have a better idea of the costs and benefits of implementing electronic monitoring software. He might then have to decide whether he thinks that the benefits outweigh the costs.
In conclusion, the vice president of human resources at Climpson Industries made a reasonable prediction. However, in order to decide whether implementing electronic monitoring software is a good idea, he needs more information.