Worried about productivity in the workplace? Are there legitimate productive reasons for being on Reddit, or is it all a time sink? In this article, I will compare and contrast the reasons why Reddit can be either productive or unproductive depending on how it is used.
Reddit calls itself “the front page of the internet”. This description is not far from the truth. Reddit is a social media website where users subscribe to all different kinds of “subreddits” that are tailored to a specific niche. Reddit users browse through an aggregated feed of user-submitted posts from all of the subreddits they follow.
Examples of subreddits:
As you can see, there is quite a variety of content available on Reddit. Subreddits are available for nearly any niche hobby, profession, or interest.
Now that you have an idea of what it is, here’s the real question: should you let your employees browse Reddit? This section will break down the top reasons why Reddit can be seen as productive or unproductive so you can make that choice for your workplace.
While Reddit is often used for entertainment, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to use Reddit while at work. There are even subreddits that are dedicated to improving productivity!
Note: When reviewing BrowseReporter’s sites visited report the URLs of some subreddits may be misleading. There is no shortage of subreddits that contain the word “porn” in their title that are not necessarily NSFW. Rather, the word “porn” is used to express that the content is exemplary. Take Earth Porn for example, where all of the content is beautiful pictures of landscapes.
Downtime is a common reason why employees browse Reddit while at work. Employees that are required to be near their workstations while they wait for assets to render, scripts to execute, or for key deliverables to be given to them will often turn to Reddit to keep them occupied.
Reddit may have legitimate uses for employees, but there are potential employee productivity concerns if the site is misused.
Reddit isn’t all bad but it’s not inherently good either. If you are concerned that your employees are browsing Reddit excessively you can review their internet browsing habits to see if their workload needs to be restructured.
Not all Reddit usage is productive. Without a clear picture of the exact URLs visited there’s no way to understand how your employees are using Reddit in the workplace. BrowseReporter’s Sites Visited report displays the exact URLs visited and the time that employees have spent browsing each page.
Just as with any website that relies on user-generated content, there is a non-zero chance that Reddit can be used maliciously. That said, there are some potential security risks that you should be aware of.
As with any social media site, whether or not Reddit is productive depends on how you use it. More often than not Reddit is used for entertainment and its constant stream of content can be incredibly addicting.
Employees that are usually productive may not realize how much time they are spending on the website. Internet usage monitoring reports can be sent to employees to provide them with the opportunity to self-manage their unproductive internet browsing.
If you would like to block employees from using Reddit while on company computers, these CurrentWare articles can help you get started.
Reddit is a website that is commonly visited by employees. In addition to memes and cute animals, there are entire communities that are hosted on Reddit that employees can access to learn more about niche topics. Reddit is also commonly used by employees to pass the time during periods of downtime in the workplace.
If internet abuse is harming productivity in your workplace, employee internet monitoring software, an acceptable use policy, and a web filter can help you manage employee internet use.
If you liked this article, you may also be wondering if employees should be using YouTube in the workplace.