NATION

NATION
Web-surfing at work hasits benefits, book argues
NEW YORK -- Chances are good your employer frowns on personal Web surfing on the job. Why pay you to check out www.dragracing.com, right?
However, a new book argues that letting workers surf can yield some beneficial side effects such as better time management, stress reduction, improvement of skill sets and helping to achieve a balance between work and personal life.
"Personal Web usage in the workplace has a negative perception, especially among administrators who often see it as inefficient and creating a decrease in work productivity," said Claire Simmers, an associate professor of management at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and co-author of a human resources guide to worker Web use.
Simmers and co-author Murugan Anandarajan of Drexel University based their book on an analysis of employees who had Internet access at work.
Patience likely still to becrucial to job searches
NEW YORK -- You've heard it a million times -- patience is a virtue. That's particularly apt advice for job hunters these days, as a tight labor market has made employers exceptionally choosy when it comes to new candidates.
In a report on hiring trends for the last quarter of the year, human resource consultant DBM said extended job searches are likely to continue into 2004 because of the labor market's snail-slow pace. So will the need for candidates to accept smaller paychecks to get a job.
DBM said 94 percent of job seekers are spending four to six months searching, with most taking five months to land a new position, according to a survey of its consultants. Last year, more than half of job hunters took a pay cut to get a new job, and that trend has continued into 2003, the company said.
Associated Press