Sometimes satire is a better way to make a point than repeated explanations. I got a huge kick out of this satiric post at a blog called SubBrilliant News. It’s pure fiction—at least, a Google search turned up zero results on the research firm cited in the article, which leads me to believe it’s pure fiction. (The fact that all of the site’s posts are Onion-like parodies also helped me reach this conclusion.) Nevertheless, the point is right on the money.

The crux of the post: A workforce analytics company calculated “the cost to workers if they spent an hour each day on work instead of relaxing” during time at home or on vacation—work such as checking email or putting time in on company projects. The ficitious analyst is quoted saying, “We got the extraordinary figure of US$6 billion in lost recreational time and work done essentially for free.” The analyst’s conclusion: “Employees can balance things out by surfing the Web at work. Watching videos on YouTube, socializing on IM and Facebook. If allowed, this actually spreads the work out and makes the worker more productive, and allows ideas to come at more opportune times, rather than being forced into an 8-hour day.???

Hee hee.