Can I take a breaks to check my social networks while working? This is a common question for many Brazilians.
One of the populations that most uses social networks worldwide. Clear your doubts with the text below!
What we will see in this article
The popularity of social media in Brazil
According to data from Comscore, Brazil is the third most social media consuming country in the world. Here, there are more than 130 million active accounts. The most popular platforms are WhatsApp, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.
The data is robust and it does not take a specialized survey to see how much Brazilians like to interact on social networking; just look around.
However, the enormous popularity of social networks in our country means that their misuse also causes many problems, especially in school and work environments.
When fun becomes a problem
There’s nothing wrong with liking social media. The problem occurs when the person cannot stay long without accessing them, which can even characterize technological addiction.
Continuously accessing your social networks can be very detrimental to concentration and focus on tasks, affect socializing and social relationships, generate anxiety and compromise professional relationships.
Use of social media during working hours
There are people who for professional reasons need to be in contact with social media all the time, especially during working hours. That’s why they use social media during working hours.
This is the case for people working in marketing, producing content for social media and customer service via chat or comments.
In many small-scale commercial establishments, where there is not necessarily a dedicated professional for the role, it is common for one or more employees to be placed to make records and posts on the company’s professional profile.
After all, digital presence is very important for companies and users want to follow news, promotions, content and react with profiles.
Tools such as WhatsApp Web are also widely used to establish contact with clients, schedule meetings, reply to professional messages and even for communication between staff.
However, if it is not a specific function of the employee to use social media as part of their professional tasks, it is advisable to be very common sense in the use of these tools.
When social media use during working hours becomes a problem
Unfortunately, many people lack common sense and start misusing their cell phones during work hours to access social media;
It turns out that the practice and misuse of means of communication at work is punishable and even dismissal for cause, depending on the severity of the occurrence.
When too much use of a smartphone during office hours compromises the fulfillment of work tasks and routines, this characterizes a problem.
Can the employer prohibit the use of social networks during working hours?
When the use of social networks and digital tools is not part of the employee’s scope of duties, the employer may prohibit their use during working hours.
What does the labor legislation say?
This is supported by article 482 of the CLT, which indicates that both acts of indiscipline or insubordination and negligence in the performance of duties may constitute grounds for just cause for termination of employment.
Thus, if the employee is first verbally warned for misuse of social media during working hours and continues to do so, he or she may be punished under both items of Article 482.
Before punishment, education
It is recommended that leaders and managers discuss the issue collectively before warning their employees for misuse of social media.
Making everyone aware of the importance of concentration and execution of tasks and commitment during the workday can be a simple attitude that generates positive results in the short term.
It may be worth noting that break times, such as lunch, are the best times to look at social media.
Use productivity methods with hourly intervals
One measure that has worked well in many companies is the implementation of productivity methods such as Pomodoro;
It foresees that the person has a certain time of focused work (which can be 25 minutes, 45 minutes, 50 minutes, as it is more suitable for the accomplishment of the task) and then take short breaks, from 5 to 10 minutes.
There are several scientific evidences that this kind of methodology favors productivity. This is because the human brain has a tendency to disperse after a while when performing an activity.
So this is a good suggestion to create “short breaks” where the person can quickly log into their social media before resuming full focus on their task.
Can I take breaks to check my social networks?
Therefore, the answer to this question is not exact. This will depend on your professional environment, the job you do, the type of task you perform and how your manager and leaders deal with this issue.
In some professional environments, especially those made up of mostly younger people, moderate use of social media during working hours may be more tolerated.
However, those who work directly with the public or who perform functions that require maximum concentration (such as calculating or operating machinery) may be more restricted in their ability to use social media responsibly in their workday.
Have common sense
Common sense is the best friend of how to deal with these situations. Those who do not extrapolate and know how to use their cell phones and access social networks responsibly, may have a higher tolerance for use than the colleague who is connected to them all the time.
The most important thing is to be aware that under no circumstances should the use of social media compromise the results of your work.
If you notice this happening, it may be a warning sign that the relationship is not favorable. It is always best to leave social networks for moments of break and relaxation.