Study: Facebook, YouTube at work make better employees

One of our other reporters printed out a copy of this story and handed it to one of the bosses.

Caught Twittering or on Facebook work? It’ll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said “workplace Internet leisure browsing,” or WILB, helped to sharpened workers’ concentration.

“People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,” Coker said. “Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days’ work, and as a result, increased productivity,” he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70%  of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on Youtube.

“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity,” said Coker. “That’s not always the case.”

However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.

“Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without,” he said.

 

Read more: Facebook, YouTube at work make better employees: study

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Young at heart: Elderly librarian says kids keep her alive [Video]

Here is a library worker who is older than many of the books on the shelves but she says her elementary students keep her young at heart.

Arlene Greene turns 82 this summer and she credits the kids at Wengert Elementary for her new lease on life. “When I first came here to Nevada I was sitting around, doing reading, watching T.V. and I was slowly dying and my daughter said, mom, ‘you are going to die like this. You’ve got to volunteer.’”

Greene now volunteers five days a week. Wengert’s principal, Suhaila Mustafa, says, ”She is very sweet, very kind to them.’ Mustafa says Greene resembles grandma and provides a family atmosphere.   

Greene is no push over, though, and the kids know it. A book overdue is a book overdue. And she is a stickler when it comes to saying “please and thank you.”

Greene says, “I would encourage everybody who doesn’t know what to do with themselves, who have nothing, their children have married or gone away, jump into a school. Volunteer and work with the kids. It’s like living all over again.”

Read more and watch this story: Cool at School: Young at Heart

Photo: Flickr user apdk

Angels with power tools [Video]

Here is one of my stories!

One full year after a tornado ripped the Strawberry Mobile Home Park apart, many residents are amazingly still trying to pick up the pieces.

Earlier this week, we introduced you to an elderly lady who still couldn’t afford to have a damaged tree removed that threatened to fall on her trailer. But, a News 2 viewer jumped to action to extend a Problem Solver Helping Hand.

Van Atkins, the owner of Van’s Tree Service, was so moved by the plight of Bergetta Driggers that he came to her rescue.

Early this morning he and his crew removed the damaged tree and stump. Not only were they unsightly, but the tree could have easily killed Driggers if it fell on her trailer.

She said it’s been an unbelievably hard year and she is surprised someone cared enough about her to help.

The services totaled to around $800 and Driggers says she simply would not have been able to afford such an expense

Watch this story: Helping Hand: Strawberry Mobile Home Park Tornado

Mail carrier saves woman from fire, completes her deliveries

When a mail carrier realized an 80-year-old woman was inside a burning house, she didn’t hesitate to rush inside to help.

“It was something instinctive,” Jackie Jefferson said. “I wasn’t thinking. I puffed up my nerves and did it. I can’t believe it happened.”

Jefferson’s actions got the wheelchair-bound woman out of her . Then, true to her postal duties, Jefferson resumed walking her mail delivery route.

Jefferson was gone by the time Indianapolis firefighters arrived. She didn’t return until well after the fire was out and the woman she had rescued had been taken to Methodist Hospital.

Jefferson, 36, has been delivering mail only a few months. Based out of the Brightwood branch post office, she’s been filling in on others’ delivery routes.

I ran over to the house, and the lady is usually in the living room,” said Jefferson. “I grabbed ahold of the wheelchair and tried to push her as far as I could.” She got the woman out of the burning house.

“And then the flames started to come out of the door,” Jefferson said. “I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time.”

Read more: Mail carrier saves woman from Near-Northside fire, completes her rounds

Mystery repairman fixes broken traffic light

A malfunctioning traffic light that was a constant source of complaints has finally been fixed, but not by the government. A mystery repairman got the light working on Friday, three days before the state Division of Highways workers showed up to repair it.

Mayor Emmett Pugh said Tuesday that officials don’t know who did it, but they’re grateful.

The light quit working sometime before Christmas. Though it was the city’s responsibility, city crews didn’t have the expertise to repair the light and it took extra time ordering special parts.

Councilman Mike Atterson said he hopes the mystery repairman comes forward so he can thank him or her and extend a job offer.

He said other lights around town also need work.

Read more: The traffic light works again — but who fixed it?

Photo: Flikr user Shamus O’Reilly

50 jobs, 50 states in a year?

At a time when some people are having trouble finding one job, Daniel Seddiqui is lining up 50 — one in every state. Each job symbolizes the state’s most famous industry, and each lasts one week — just long enough for the 26-year-old to appreciate the labor and explore the region.

He’s been a park ranger in Wyoming, a corn farmer in Nebraska and a wedding coordinator in Las Vegas.

Last week, in Week 23 of his yearlong saga, he was a cheesemaker in southeast Wisconsin. He mixed ingredients, hoisted slabs of cheddar — and tasted plenty of his work.

Seddiqui, who grew up in Los Altos, Calif., insists his job-hopping isn’t a gimmick. It’s a legitimate effort to travel the U.S., learning about cultures across the country and developing a respect for what other people do, he said.

For example, at his Nebraska job he was surprised that every farmer he met had a college degree.

Read more: 50 jobs, 50 states in a year? Man gives it a try

Photo: Associated Press