- Butt Out IT! Facebook "Productivity Loss" Is No Concern of Yours
- Gartner: IT Has 'No Moral Basis' To Monitor Facebook
Trey's Thoughts on the Subject:
Doing what I do for a living, I can see both sides of the coin. Management will always make the argument that they bought the equipment, paid for the Internet access, and are paying the employees to work for them, and therefore have every right to monitor and manage what said employees do during work hours. Employees will typically argue that they give more time and effort to their employer than they are paid for and therefore a couple of minutes spent on Facebook or checking their personal email isn't going to bankrupt the company. Both sides have very valid arguments.
It is my personal opinion that employees should be allowed some leeway in using employer provided technology for personal use. However, I think that there should be clear policies on what type of use is acceptable and what is not. Checking your Yahoo! email account once or twice a day is probably OK in most settings. Sending a "tweet" every time you take a file out of the file cabinet is abusing the privilege. In the long run, the majority of employees are going to use the technology that is provided to them in a responsible manner. The policies are there for those who don't - and they should be enforced consistently and fairly.
Moreover, I believe that employers do have the right to monitor usage of technology resources as long as employees are given notice that the monitoring is taking place. After all, they are footing the bill. However, the "threat" of monitoring is usually enough to keep the average employee on the straight and narrow without having to devote the resources to actual monitoring.
So, in a nutshell, employees should be free to use the resources they have access to in a wise and responsible way. And employers should have rules in place to make sure they do; and to deal with those who do not.
4 comments:
I agree and disagree with the topics discussed in these articles.
I believe monitoring internet usage of your employees should only be done if there is a distinct need to do so. IT managers should already have their hands full without monitoring internet usage. Nevertheless, if it has been proven that an employee is spending the majority of their day on the Internet then the manager of the company should be the one to inform the IT department to block internet access for that employee.
If you think about it, it could also be the manager's fault.If the employee is spending all day surfing the web then they obviously do not have enough work to do.
The exact content that the employee is viewing also plays an important role in this discussion. There is a big difference between Facebook and hard core pornograhy. IT departments and managers just need to use some common sense. If the need is present, they should block acces to CERTAIN sites and allow acces to sites that promote busniess opportunity.
Finally, the article states that Facebook could provide oportunities for the business by allowing employees to communicate with clients. What a load of bull. Facebook and Myspace are tagged with the "social networking" phrase but they are merely time wasters for nosy people. The only communication that is going on is of the personal matter, not business opportunities.
I'm not knocking MySpace or Facebook. I have a Myspace account and I will admit the only reason I log on to it is to see what people are talking about and to view the crazy pictures people posted from their crazy drunken weekends.
So yes, "Butt Out IT Managers" but also, "Grow Up Employees" & "Wake Up Managers."
I fully agree that any social website is a time waster. There isn’t much you can do at all that can be conceived as productive. I can say by experience that sites like Facebook and Myspace are dangerous to the integrity of a secure network. If I were in charge, I would only allow my employees to go to these sites on a secured and separate part of the network. Although I believe that social sites are not a good thing to have in a work environment, I don’t think they are bad or counterproductive with respect to individual employee performance. I base that on the fact that it has been proven many times over that any employee’s performance is very sluggish when they feel like they come in 9 to 5 and cram in the busy work. Who wants to go to work every day and have no kind of relaxation? Not me.
With all things considered, Facebook and other social sites are not counterproductive unless they are abused. Also, I know without any doubt that social sites are a network security risk. I think it’s all up to the individual in charge to determine whether or not to block access.
For a long time employees have had access to personal computers. However, there have been arguments for and against employers monitoring the use of computers. The two topics that I read “Butt Out IT”! and “IT Has No Moral Basis To Monitor Facebook”, these are my thoughts about the articles.
These articles briefly discuss employees wasting a lot time meaning “productivity loss”. The IT department argues that employees waste time on social networks such as Facebook. So the IT department wants to monitor those computers.
I disagree.
Social networks (FaceBook, Web 2.0, etc.) are becoming more effective to establish connections with customers. I feel employees should experiment and become comfortable with social networks especially when customers and prospects spend time in social and professional networks.
The proper guidelines should be set for such usage. Block all sites that may cause problems in the long run and sites that employees may abuse. That way it wouldn’t be any arguments for or against monitoring the usage of computers. Put an end to arguments and disturbances by Setting Proper Guidelines.
I feel the IT department shouldn’t have a say so over individual’s work productivity unless the employees IT Manager have an issue with an individual work habit. Using this method, the IT department obsessing over monitoring the computer should seize.
To a certain degree they should. They can monitor it once in awhile to see if the employees are doing their work and not surfing the web or checking emails. I'm sure no employee wants to be monitored but if they are staying busy with work, then they have no reason to be surfing the web or checking emails.
Then again, if employees are not busy and their work is caught up, then why not get on the internet for a quick surf, as long as they don't spend too long on it, just a brief surf of the web or to check email.
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