� METRO Wednesday, May 28, 2008 D

Lisbon: Wecan’t decideWHILE both sides in the LisbonTreaty battle it out in the run-up tonext month’s referendum, it seemsalmost half of Dubliners takingpart in a Metro survey are stillundecided as to how they’re goingto vote. Metro asked 935 youngprofessionals how they’re going tovote in the June referendum andlearned that the gap between yesand no is minimal, with 28 per centsaying they will be voting for it and27 per cent saying they will voteagainst it. However, 44 per cent ofthose surveyed still don’t knowhow they will vote.

Tom Waits tickets sell outin less than three hours

TICKETS for three Dublin concerts by legendaryAmerican singer TomWaits sold out in less than threehours yesterday. Fans paid between €116 and €131 fortickets for the all-seated gigs at Phoenix Park on July30, July 31 and August 1, bringing the total cost for apair of tickets to as much as €275, including bookingfees. The tickets went on sale exclusively throughTicketmaster on the internet and by phone at 9am, andwere sold out by 11.45am. Waits, who last played inDublin nearly 21years ago, will play in a speciallyconstructed marquee, billed The Ratcellar Theatre. Itwill seat about 4,500 people each night.Waits: Sold out

Palestinianstake covernear an olivetree as theyget caughtin a barrageof tear gasfired byIsraelitroopsduring aprotestagainst theseparationbarrier inthe WestBankPicture: AP

Nowhere to ruN, Nowhere to hide

Surfing Net‘can boost’productivityYOU know those few minutes you spendin work sneakily checking your e-mailor looking up the latest celebrity gossipon the internet?It turns out that far from being a waste

of time in the working day, these‘e-breaks’ are actually good for you andgood for business.A new report released yesterday shows

that banning workers from using the in-ternet for personal reasons could actu-ally be hitting productivity because staffneed a break to help reduce stress. Well,that’s our excuse anyway.A study of 1,700 employees by com-

puter games firm PopCap Gamesshowed that people felt refreshed if theyhad an ‘e-break’ during the workingday.Most of those questioned said they

would rather spend some free time surf-ing the internet to unwind than having acigarette or tea break.The report said that taking five min-

utes off to make a cup of tea was ac-cepted, but using social websites wasfrowned upon.Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic of

London’s Goldsmiths University, whohelped with the research, said: ‘Teabreaks and fag breaks have long beenthe most common types of break withinoffice culture, but the report shows that

e-breaks are fast becoming the mostpopular choice of break for workers.‘The report proves that a ten-minute

e-break a day can have significant ben-efits but, despite this, many bosses arebanning them in the fear that they dis-tract employees.‘By factoring in a dedicated slot for an

e-break, bosses are fostering a moretrusting working environment, boostingproductivity and ultimately increasingtheir profits, which surely makes goodbusiness sense.’According to a recent Metro Urban

Life survey, four out of five urbanitesare social networkers.Less than a quarter described social

networking sites as ‘a distraction fromwork’.So, employers, the next time your staff

want to take a breather, why not suggesta quick surf on the net – after all, itcould end up making you a lot of cash.

By Karen Dunne

reportsays‘ebreaks’are goodforprofits