A recent survey has found that Facebook and other social media are costing businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity every year. Although it is not clear why a survey was necessary to establish these rather obvious facts, the results offered some rather interesting figures.

The survey was conducted by United Sample and it covered 500 employees in the US. Researchers found that more than 60 percent of work interruptions involve tools like email, text messaging, IM and social networks. Only 45 percent of employees managed to work 15 minutes without being interrupted.

The total cost of all distractions amounted to $10,375 of wasted productivity a year, at an average salary of $30 per hour. The total cost for a business with 1,000 employees translates into more than $10 million a year.

Most distractions are electronically based and personal online activities are a bit part of the issue. Some 9 percent reported they were distracted by Facebook, 6 percent wasted time on IM and 5 percent on text messaging. Traditional distractions, such as phone calls, talking with coworkers or drooling over the new intern accounted for 43 percent of distractions in the workplace.

Interestingly, adding more devices or monitors to the desktop only appears to make the issue worse. Basically the only way of staying as productive as possible is keeping your personal life at home, or having none whatsoever.

More here.