There has been a trend in recent years to buy larger-sized monitors and even to have two or more monitors on desktops. Now, a new study has confirmed that multiple monitors or monitors that are bigger and wider increase business productivity. That’s good news for those of trying to justify your request for that 24" monitor you were wishing for!

Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant

The survey was initiated by NEC Display and conducted by the University of Utah to investigate user preferences and the effects on productivity of monitor size and configuration. Apparently, NEC got the result they were hoping for, boding well for them and other monitor makers.

For example, the study found that moving from single 18-inch traditional format monitors to 24-inch widescreen displays reduced the time it took to complete a task from 8 hours to 5½ hours. Over the course of a year, that translates to a savings of up to 76 days in production, or about $8,600 per employee (based on a $32,500 annual salary; for people with higher salaries, the savings is greater). Wow, now you really need to show this article to your boss!

Here are some of the details of the survey. Ninety-six participants were assigned to perform tasks on a sequence of displays: a single 20-inch, a dual 20-inch and a single 24-inch or 26-inch widescreen monitor. They were then assigned both spreadsheet and text editing tasks. The study analyzed time performance, editing performance and monitor preferences. In addition to the results generated in this study, findings were also factored in from a 2003 NEC/ATI/University of Utah multi-monitor productivity study, which compared dual monitor set-ups with single 18-inch traditional format monitors.

"The study revealed that large widescreen or dual monitor configurations are recommended for use in any situation where multiple documents of information are an ordinary part of work" said James A. Anderson, the lead author of the study and a Professor of Communication at the University of Utah. "Given a workforce with varying editing and spreadsheet skills, the 24-inch widescreen appears to be the most solid option overall."

The study findings can also be applied to laptop computers. A larger widescreen monitor alongside a laptop easily allows for a dual display configuration - and maximizes productivity.

In addition, the study indicated that single widescreen displays are better for editing tasks, while dual monitor configurations can be more suitable for spreadsheet work. Moreover, people with less experience in the applications performed better on widescreens for both editing and spreadsheet tasks. Meanwhile, those with intermediate or advanced skills executed tasks equally well on widescreens and dual displays and much better than they did on traditional format monitors.

"Widescreen and dual configurations reduced the productivity gap between people of different aptitude levels," said Pierre Richer, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at NEC Display Solutions. "With many office workers spending their entire day on computers, monitor size and configurations become an extremely important component of the desktop set-up and a serious business consideration."

The table summarizes the man-hours and, thus, the dollar savings associated with the various types of monitors and configurations. A more complete summary of the study can be found at www.necdisplay.com/gowide.

"Not only does screen space impact a person’s productivity, it also affects employee satisfaction at work" Anderson said. "With the costs of larger LCD displays falling, the smaller monitors (less than 19-inches) are no longer justified in terms of productivity returns and worker well-being."

As self-serving as these conclusions may seem when offered by a maker of monitors, the survey results seem plausible on first blush. In addition, and for what it is worth, the results of the survey do seem to confirm my personal experience and intuition. Maybe this is what the ailing US economy needs.

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