They are using their smart phones. While some people are checking out Facebook, getting directions, reading the news or just plain addicted, many are still on the clock.

While smart phones have made it easier for workers to stay connected to the office, they have also made it more difficult to disconnect during personal time.

CareerBuilder conducted a survey on this very topic and workers with smart phones said they are checking in with the office on their smart phones from virtually anywhere and everywhere, including:

• During a meal – 62%
• On vacation – 60%
• While in the bathroom – 57%
• Lying in bed at night – 50%
• At a movie, play, musical, etc… – 25%
• On a date – 18%
• Working out at the gym – 17%
• At a child’s event of function – 17%
• At church – 11%

Here are some other interesting things workers admitted to:

• 14% of workers said they feel obligated to constantly stay in touch with work because of the current tough economy
• 21% of workers say they check their mobile device every time it vibrates or beeps
• 18% report they are required by their company to be accessible beyond office hours via mobile device
• 23% of workers who are required to be accessible beyond office hours report that being too connected to their jobs via technology has caused issues or arguments with their friends and family.

“The lines between work and life can be very blurry these days — 17% of workers said they feel like their work day never ends because of technology connecting them to the office,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. “To reduce burnout and avoid potentially risky behavior, workers should allot technology-free time when away from work.”

In related news, watch the clip below of Jerry Seinfeld doing stand-up in his recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. At the 2:45 mark, he starts his bit about smart phones.  Can you relate?

Related posts:

1. 35 percent of workers aren’t planning to take a vacation this year Finally, Memorial Day weekend (the 3-day oasis that gets us...
2. Co-workers are strange. Very, very strange. Co-workers can really make or break a workplace. A bad...
3. Are co-workers important to your ideal job? I’ve written my fair share of articles about annoying co-workers....

If you’re job hunting and have a social networking profile (or two, or six), be warned: 45% of hiring managers are looking for you online. Watch this video for tips on how to make sure you are portrayed in the best possible light across the Web.

Tell us: Have you ever had a hiring manager or boss ask you about something he or she found on your online profile? (No registration needed to comment below. )

Related posts:

1. You can buy all your gifts with a few clicks of the mouse … but should you? Here at The Work Buzz, we don’t judge. Nor do...
2. Employers are digging up your digital dirt Remember that “classic” picture of you from last year’s St....
3. Tweets are the new homework Here on The Work Buzz we’ve trumpeted the usefulness of...

Today consisted of a lot of bewilderment on my part and resulted in plenty of — as they say in Internet world –facepalming.

On a daily basis I find myself frustrated with e-mail, either at my e-mail program or at the culture e-mail has created. Everyone’s bemoaned the state of affairs when people are more likely to e-mail than walk 10 feet to speak face to face. You’ve heard the rants about the Reply All Person who insists on copying the world anytime he or she sends a message. E-mails been a workplace mainstay for over a decade–we know all these things by now.

But with everyone (including us, here at The Work Buzz) prattling on about social media–Facebook this, Tweet that, Digg what? and on and on, I figured it’s time to remember why e-mail still has some pros to it after all these years. Anything to keep me from throwing my laptop against the wall. Silly? Perhaps.

1. I need more than 140 characters to say anything important. I try to be pithy, but work e-mails are not poetry. Sad but true. Give me a full e-mail to write what I want.

2. I like Facebook, but no serious work discussion is happening on there. You can network, but you’re probably not going to discuss important details on your Wall, are you?

3. E-mail might be abused, but more often than not, I’d rather see an e-mail notification pop up in the corner of my screen than hear a phone ringing or see a red light indicating a voicemail. If it will only take a few seconds, by all means, call…but when I need to do a little research to get your answer, an e-mail is probably best. At least I can delete a boring e-mail. I can’t hang up on a boring caller. (Or can I?)

4. I e-mail people in locations around the country (and globe), so it is easier to communicate via e-mail. Aligning my schedule with someone in Europe isn’t easy on our sleep habits.

5. Is there anything more glorious than a clean inbox? The existence of e-mail gives me the pleasure of cleaning out my inbox and seeing only a few (or no) e-mails there–which gives me a weird sense of accomplishment. Even if that’s the only thing I’ve done all day.

This post was also inspired by news that the UK is officially beginning to log all e-mail and online activity (or they’re requiring ISPs to do so, rather). A lot of US employers already do this with company e-mail and Internet activity, and it got me thinking that 20 years ago this wasn’t really an issue we were thinking about. Now e-mails and all its issues (privacy, annoyances, benefits)  are so commonplace at work, we don’t even think twice about them.

Related posts:

1. What’s in a nickname? Apparently, a lot. I’m not sure if you all keep up with the...
2. First Comes Love, Then Comes … Career? As exemplified by previous posts and articles, I’ll be the...
3. Are co-workers important to your ideal job? I’ve written my fair share of articles about annoying co-workers....

What is WILB? Workplace Internet leisure browsing.

The new study conducted by the University of Melbourne, finds that a little Youtube and Facebook distraction can make you a m ore productive worker.

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 on the university’s website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)

“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.

So David’s visit to the dentist? The evolution of dance? Finding out whom your ex is dating? Stalking your crush so you can find out his/her favorite band? All worthwhile distractions to help you refocus.

Of course, if you go overboard and spend more time clicking from video to video (and haven’t we all found ourselves caught in the web of recommended videos?) than doing your work, you’re not going to keep your job long.

Related posts:

1. Are you overworked? Working overtime is never fun, no matter what state the...
2. Before you fill out that March Madness bracket… Few things unite co-workers like a good, old-fashioned office...
3. Tuesday’s good reads roundup The last 24 hours have been full of big news....

Of course, we want you to visit us every day. (You do that already, right?) But it’s a good idea to check out other blogs in your job search, as well.

One good link might be the Corporate page at Alltop. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Alltop, it’s a combination of magazine rack and RSS feed. It collects several different blog feeds under a specific topic (like careers, where this blog is featured) and lets the user persue different blog posts.

The Corporate blog page that I mentioned is where some of the biggest companies in the country post updates and news.

Of course, it’s always a good idea to watch the blog of any company you want to work for, so you get an idea of what’s happening at that specific company.

But keeping an eye on these big corporate blogs will specifically give you a sense of the marketplace as a whole. If there’s a trend happening at one of those companies, chances are that it will eventually impact you or your workplace.

BE A JOB SEARCH ROCK STAR!

Make sure you check out The Work Buzz every day for the latest updates, news and survey results.

You can bookmark this page, subscribe to our RSS feed, find us on Facebook or get updates on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Monday’s good reads roundup First Monday of August, and job seeker news is busting...
2. Wednesday Buzz Turn off your PC at quitting time: USA Today Get...
3. You can buy all your gifts with a few clicks of the mouse … but should you? Here at The Work Buzz, we don’t judge. Nor do...

Just a quick note for our Buzz readers who use Twitter: We’re now tweeting! You can find us by searching for “TheWorkBuzz” and follow us there.

We’ll tweet every time we’ve got new and exciting content for you to check out here.

Of course, for non-Twitter users who’d like to follow us and get updates on when there’s new posts in The Work Buzz, you can subscribe to our RSS feed! Just look for the RSS icon, or click on the link to your right.

Related posts:

1. Ask us a question Hello, Work Buzz readers- You’ll notice that lately we’ve been...
2. Follow these 10 Tweeters Oh, social media, what did we ever do before you...

That report, and a survey conducted by Fiberlink Communications, also talks about telecommuting and mobile connectivity to the office or the workplace. The survey participants were asked about the platforms they used to connect with work, as well as the impact that an increasingly mobile workplace has on both their productivity and their personal lives.

In general, workers seemed to see the increased options for working from home or mobile connections to work as a positive. But in the Pew survey, 48% of workers indicated that their stress levels were elevated because they were ALWAYS connected to work.

The same scenario that offers the benefits and flexibility of working in your bathrobe at 9 am may also lead to you (in the same bathrobe?) on your laptop or Blackberry at 11 pm trying to resolve an issue.

This isn’t a surprising trend, and it’s part of a larger trend where workers are finding it harder and harder to define that line between work and home.

Back in May, we released a survey about vacations and the results were very similar.

• Many of the workers who were surveyed said that they were checking voicemails and emails while they were on vacation. 
• For some people, they checked in because they wanted to maintain or manage their workload.
• Others did it because they felt they were EXPECTED to do so.

I’m curious to hear what our readers think. Is mobile connectivity a double-edged sword? Has the ability to telecommute been beneficial for you, or are you overwhelmed by the feeling that work is never “over”?

Related posts:

1. Tuesday’s good reads roundup Did you have a chance to read today’s workplace headlines...
2. News Flash: Women ARE as ambitious as men at work A new study released today about attitudes in the U.S....
3. Tuesday’s good reads roundup Tuesday’s come and nearly gone (work-wise, at least). If you...

A few recent news items about using the Internet at work piqued my interest.

Surfing the Web at work

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released the results of a survey they conducted this spring about workers and Internet use, and they came up with some fascinating figures, including:

27% of workers say they are on the Internet constantly while they’re at work, while another 22 precent access the Web several times a day.  Government workers were most likely to spend time on the Internet (72 percent).

As you might expect, 54 percent of those surveyed say that they check their personal e-mail while at work, which likely has companies concerned about Internet access affecting productivity.

For many of those workers, however, the opposite was also true. 50 percent of workers indicated that they checked work-related e-mail from their home computer on weekends. 22 percent of e-mail users and 48% of Blackberry and PDA owners say that they are expected to answer e-mails and messages even when they are not “on the clock.”

These results (you can see the entire report here) indicate a serious blurring of the line between work and home.

Fantasy football season

It’s fall. Fall means football, and football leads to fantasy football. Like the March Madness Brackets, picking your fantasy football team has become a favorite pastime at workplaces everywhere.

Fans of fantasy football are likely to take a direct hit to productivity. They may be completing their player roster, consulting co-workers or friends on the phone or in person about what players to pick, and spending time online surfing some of the major websites that host fantasy football games.

A recent article discussed this phenomenon, with some perspectives on whether encouraging fantasy football is a plus or minus in the workplace. 

What’s your experience? Is Internet access at work a plus or a minus for you? Is there a clear boundary between work and home, or has technology blurred that line? And is fantasy football season impacting you or your office? Let us know!

Related posts:

1. The plights and sometimes pleasure of e-mail Today I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with...
2. Why Peanut Butter Jelly Time might actually be good for you While most studies reveal horrifying links between things we love...
3. Back to work at Sterling Cooper Ain’t it swell? Don, Peggy, Roger, Joan and the entire...

Why? Because Scrabulous is no more.

Related posts:

1. “Can We Have Bikini Fridays?” And Other Strange Requests… Thankfully, for everyone in my office, one of my co-workers...
2. 35 percent of workers aren’t planning to take a vacation this year Finally, Memorial Day weekend (the 3-day oasis that gets us...
3. Thursday’s good reads roundup We give you entertaining, informative and interesting articles to read...

To create a group, log into your BrightFuse account. When you are logged in, go to “My Home” and click on the “Create your own group” link on the left. You can invite any BrightFuse member to join your group!

Not a BrightFuse member yet? Check it out. BrightFuse is a great companion site to CareerBuilder.com.

Related posts:

1. Half of Workers Laid Off in the Last Three Months Have Found Jobs We get it: The economy sucks. But, new research suggests...