• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 2, 2013

Although evil bosses love to hate social media, it turns out the extra communication capabilities conferred by social media can raise workplace productivity. That’s according to a new study of technology companies in the U.K., Germany, and Finland, conducted by researchers at the U.K.’s Warwick University Business School.

The study, titled “Exploring social network interactions in enterprise systems: the role of virtual co-presence” and scheduled to be published in Information Systems Journal in September 2013, found that social media, along with other digital communications technology, helped workers be more flexible about when and where they work, which in turn boosted their effectiveness. This is especially true for jobs which require cooperation with global networks, often outside of regular business hours.

Warwick business prof Joe Nandhakumar summed up the results: “We found that the ubiquitous digital connectivity altered workers’ sense of ‘presence’ and helped rather than hindered the effective completion of collective tasks.” He added: “Ubiquitous digital connectivity should be seen not as an unwelcome interruption but as part of the changing nature of knowledge work itself that needs to become part of normal, everyday practices of contemporary organisations.”

That said, the researchers also found that productive workers are able to detach themselves from the flow of digital information when needed, which allows them to shift from information-gathering to execution of tasks without undue distraction. Towards that end, Nandhakumar recommended that “Companies and organisations should make sure their workers can control the flow of information, turning it on and off when needed.”