54 % of U.S. companies banned workers from using Twitter/Facebook

Only 10 percent of the 1,400 CIOs interviewed said that their companies allow employees full access to social networks during work hours.

“Using social networking sites may divert employees’ attention away from more pressing priorities, so it’s understandable that some companies limit access,” said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, in a statement. “For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes.”

A study released last summer concluded that social networking use can hurt the bottom line.

Nucleus Research, an IT research company, reported in July that companies that allow employee productivity drops 1.5 percent in companies that allow full access to Facebook in the workplace. That survey of 237 corporate employees also showed that 77 percent of workers who have a Facebook account use it during work hours.

Nucleus said the survey found that “some” employees use the social networking site as much as two hours a day at work. It did not say how many workers fit into that category, but did note that one in 33 workers surveyed use Facebook only while at work. And of those using Facebook at work, 87 percent said they had no clear business reason for accessing the network. And in August, the U.S. Marine Corps reaffirmed its ban.

Does your workplace have policy restrictions against social networking during working hours? Do you have to sneak off with the smokers to update your Facebook status on your iPhone? What sites are blocked by The Man? Let us know in the comments. [WIRED]

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