OFFICE workers hunched in their workspaces. The tap- tap-tap of computer keyboards over the whir of fax machines and photocopiers.

A pleasant picture of a company's white-collared brigade hard at work? Think again.

Max from accounting could really be throwing a sheep at Sue from finance. And, oh, that secretary Ling? She's getting a little boozy from that martini she received from administrative assistant Boon.

If the above sounds like loony-speak to you, then you probably haven't been clued in to the latest online distraction to hit the workplace - Facebook.

The social networking site - where users upload personal profiles of themselves to communicate with real-life and virtual friends - was founded in 2004 by Harvard college kid Mark Zuckerberg (see box on facing page). At last count, it had 43 million active users worldwide, with more than 200,000 new registrations a day.

In Singapore, its popularity is fast catching on.

According to online intelligence firm Hitwise, rival social networking sites Friendster and MySpace are still ahead in terms of market share of global web communities and chat sites, with 16.29 per cent and 2.36 per cent respectively last month. But Facebook's growth over the past six months has been phenomenal - its share grew from close to zero in March to 2.61 per cent this month.

Like earlier social networking sites, Facebook thrives on the promise of popularity ('friends' can be added with a simple mouse click) and appeals to the voyeur in everyone (surreptitious spying on exes, enemies and crushes can provide hours of fun).

But what makes Facebook different is that its users are connected to real-life networks such as schools and companies, which makes it harder for one to assume a fake identity.

Its addictive value also comes from its applications - third-party software ranging from online games to quizzes to random time-wasters like a virtual garden where you can plant flowers.

And if you're still baffled about the sheep and martini, these are 'virtual' gifts users can send to one another.

$390 million lost a day

BUT not everything is coming up roses in Facebook-land. Some bosses are worried that employees are cyber-loafing, spending too much time on Facebook at work.

Indeed, one local Facebook user, who declined to be named for fear of repercussions, confesses: 'I'm addicted to Facebook and I find myself taking longer to complete my work because I'm always logging in to see what's happening.'

Studies emerging from some quarters seem to paint a dire picture for productivity.

In Britain, employment law firm Peninsula estimates that businesses lose 233 million hours every month to staff who visit networking sites when they should be working. The cost in lost productivity was calculated at 130 million pounds?(S$390 million) a day.

In Australia, Internet filtering specialist SurfControl says the Facebook craze could cost businesses more than A$5 billion (S$6.5 billion) a year.

Showing that bosses are already concerned, a poll of 600 workers worldwide by IT security and control firm Sophos found that 50 per cent of employees are blocked from accessing the Facebook site on their work computers.

Forty-three per cent were completely blocked; 7 per cent had restricted access. Companies cited included bank Lloyds TSB, financial services company Credit Suisse and investment house Goldman Sachs.

In Singapore, a LifeStyle poll of 20 companies found that four blocked Facebook and other social networking sites entirely, while six had limited access, depending on what purpose employees were accessing the sites for.

Two reasons were cited: Such websites are a waste of bandwidth that can be put to better use for work-related matters; and employees don't need the interruption to their duties.

Observes Sophos' senior technology consultant Graham Cluley: 'Companies are split on the question of Facebook. Some believe it to be a procrastinator's paradise... others view it as a valuable networking tool for workers.'

Indeed, Ms Mylinh Cheung, spokesman for HR consultancy Mercer in Singapore, says: 'It's a well-known fact that the productivity of knowledge workers isn't determined solely by the number of hours worked. At the end of the day, it's the outcome and the deliverables rather than the official number of hours clocked.'

Adds Dr Adel F. Dimian, a professor of management at the Singapore Management University: 'The very definition of a knowledge worker suggests that more networking supports their productivity. If a friend, colleague, supplier or outside industry connection can inform or teach an employee, then the employer benefits from the learning.'

But there is no denying that cyber-loafing in the workplace - and the boundaries that might be needed - is a hot issue.

The Singapore Human Resources Institute, an organisation of human resource professionals here, has recognised this. This week, it launches the Singapore HR Challenge 2008, a competition urging tertiary and pre-tertiary students to come up with new HR practices under the theme New Workforce, New Workplace.

SHRI's executive director David Ang counts motivating employees amid the era of online distractions as one of the pertinent topics to be addressed.

Where to draw the line

FOR now, the debate on whether staff should be given free rein in cyberspace boils down to: Lax IT policies leave the workplace open to abuse, versus: workers shouldn't be nannied, but trusted to do what's best for them and their company.

Recruitment company Kelly Services, which is headquartered in the United States and has an office here, is a believer of the former. Facebook and other social networking sites are blocked from its 170 staff.

Senior human resource director Jonas Ang explains: 'We have a high performance culture and we hold the firm belief that we want to keep everybody as focused as possible on the roles.'

He adds that companies which allow such privileges to their staff also have to consider that not everyone may want them. 'For example, if you have two people working very hard and the rest surfing the Web, the two will definitely be affected.'

For others, it's a simple matter of removing all temptation.

Real estate company Pacific Star Holdings blocks social networking and leisure websites because they are 'bandwidth intensive and have no productivity value'.

Its IT executive Marshall Ho adds that employees get 'addicted' to such sites and 'do not know when to draw the line, or when or when not to use them'.

Still, with such clear-cut restrictions, there could be a danger of 'demotivation' and inflicting 'low morale' on employees, note HR experts like SHRI's Mr Ang.

Clearly, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' policy on the issue. In front-line industries where staff are expected to be attentive to customers and project a certain image, fiddling with Facebook is usually a big no-no.

The opposite could be true for companies in, say, the creative industries that value an open culture and need to keep up with the latest trends.

A prime example would be Sun Microsystems in the US, which started using Facebook as part of an alternative to the company's intranet portals about six to nine months ago, says its director of systems engineering marketing Jeremy Barnish in an e-mail interview.

He adds: 'Using Facebook - as well as another online social networking portal called Ning - we were able to re-energise our employee communications. We expect that these tools will replace our internal portals pretty quickly.'

As of today Sun has over 2,796 users from all over the world on Facebook - from the CEO to the janitor.

On the local front, at advertising agency TBWA\Tequila, all websites - save for dodgy ones with porn, obviously - are allowed. Probably everyone from a junior executive to managing director Dan Paris is on Facebook.

Says Mr Paris: 'Social networking does have a work connection. People at TBWA need to spend time talking to one another and sharing feedback.

'If platforms like Facebook are well contextualised and people use them for honest, decent reasons, they become assets.'

TBWA also has a 300-member Facebook group started last year by head of production Joanny Wong. Apart from getting staff from local and overseas offices together in an online community, it has been useful with recruitment, she says.

'We have people writing to us from as far as France and Arab countries asking if they could work in the Singapore office.'

At MTV Asia (main picture), another company with an open policy to social networking, its senior vice-president Ian Stewart - who is on MySpace - notes that with the lines between work and play blurring, there is little point in denying employees some leisure time during office hours.

Most of MTV's 140 employees are on Facebook or MySpace. He says: 'If we block them during office hours, they're not going to want to check their e-mail after work.'

The idea is to 'empower employees to manage their own time'.

Other bosses, like Mr Patrick Grove, executive chairman of real estate portal www.iproperty.com.sg, are adopting a wait-and-see approach.

He has begun to notice more of his team members using sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook during work hours.

'My pet peeve is staff who ask me to 'be their friend' during what are clearly working hours. That takes some courage.'

If the situation exacerbates, he will consider blocking the sites.

Evidently, being free and easy with social networking in the office is a potential minefield for bosses and employees.

Already, stories have emerged in the US of job applicants given the boot after potential employers checked up on them on Facebook and realised they were not who they seemed.

And questions abound: Do you want your boss as a friend? Is it an appropriate medium to pass work-related messages?

Says Mr Stewart: 'At the level of senior vice-president, it would not be appropriate for me to send a company directive through my MySpace page.

'People have to realise that how they project themselves can be seen by parents, employers and potential employers.'

Additional reporting by Huang Xueling, Emily Lek and Tiffany Fumiko Tay