Blocking internet usage
KD13
44 Posts
We have recently seen a rise in the amount of time our employees are spending on social networking websites during working hours. We have not truly monitored the internet usage to this point except on a case by case basis. Because of the time spent on these websites, primarily Facebook, we are contemplating blocking the availability of all social sites. How do the majority of companies handle this dilemma?
Comments
What I do see changing is what we regard business necessity. I would like to make better use of social networking sites, for example, to promote internal projects or to provide opportunties for more casual collaboration. I could also use it as a platform for employees to view the stuff I make on my own time, like this:
[URL="http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6781353"][FONT=Consolas][COLOR=#800080]http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6781353[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL]
(Apologies in advance to my banking friends here.)
Hey, it was my first shot. I'll refine it this week, and incorporate it in our orientation for levity. The point is, none of my employees can view that at work.
And that's wrong. Just plain wrong.
The point is, none of my employees can view that at work.
And that's wrong. Just plain wrong.
Err.. are you talking about the employees not being able to see it, or the actual clip? O:)
Sharon
I couldn't even get into the website...our system blocked it!
From what I am hearing, reading, seeing -- there is no way most companies will be able to keep the social networks from being a part of business. Just look at the number of companies you do business with who have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. presence. Personally, I think to ban them is just plain backwards.
So set a decent and reasonable policy on usage and have your managers truly manage. Abuse is a performance issue (that's my mantra these days).
Then, the issue is addressed as a performance problem. For example, someone spends so much time on Facebook that she misses deadlines. The missed deadlines are addressed, not the Facebook usage.
If you have an employee who turns in great work and doesn't miss deadlines, does it bother you to walk into/by his office and see him on Facebook? Do you feel if he has that free time, he should be looking for something beyond his normal duties to do? Or do you feel that it's fine for him to play on Facebook at work so long as all of his work gets done? Does your answer to those questions take into account the fact that maybe someone who isn't as good of a worker and also plays on Facebook during work time might point to the good worker and say "But he is on Facebook during work . . ."?
I can see a real problem though, even for exempt employees. Hourly employees sometimes feel exempt employees get more from the company than they do. If they walked by and saw someone playing fv on fb during the workday it would cause a lot of hard feelings. As with other areas (coming in late, long lunches, etc) we try to remind our exempt employees that we expect them to work well with other employees, and that includes not doing things that cause friction if they can be avoided.
I want to make one now too.
Yeah, here also -- but it is a-okay when we stay hours and hours for evening meetings, come in week-ends to make project deadlines or visit clients, etc. I have gotten to the point that when a non-exempt comes to me with that complaint I can no longer empathize.
The problem is that they don't really[I] see[/I] everyone stay and work the extra hours. They hear about it, so they acknowledge it. But since they don't see it they don't always get it.
We also have a few exempt who often don't even work 40 here. They have specialized work that no one else can do, and we must have someone to do it. Several exempt, including the top (and me) are frequently not here at 8. We put in plenty of hours, and the employees know it, but it can leave a bad impression. They see me the most, so I do my best. I have come in on a Saturday and helped the hourly employees when they were under a deadline. They knew I didn't get paid while they were getting overtime. That has gone a long way to ease tensions. However, it has been awhile since that has happened and we have had some turnover. I have been trying to get here earlier, but it is tough to rush around when I know my boss doesn't care. :angel:
Is this because of past experience or as a precaution?
We treat the internet as a resource and handle abuse as a disciplinary issue. I can't imagine how much money we would have wasted on experts by now if we didn't have complete access. (We are too small for our own IT department - I am it.)
The example I posted can be used as a meeting icebreaker or orientation transition. If new employee Tom Smith is here for orientation, I can show him a version that includes an additional panel... In the middle of the "Do they have ATMs?" etc., I can put in a line that asks "Do they have Tom Smith?" and have the other character answer "Of course!" Or something similar.
I can put together a little cartoon to announce a promotion, a new policy, a contest winner, or anything I'd like. I'm thinking of picking one standard character and giving him a name, and having that character be our internal "spokesman".
My biggest challenge with all this is finding a way to actually display the cartoons, since most of our employees would be blocked from viewing it (thus, my inclusion of the subject in this thread to begin with). There is supposed to be a way to download a copy of the cartoon as a standalone video file, but I haven't been able to get that to work yet.
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/audio/web-risks/?UPAC[/url]
Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming! tk
I was reading about the Old Spice/youtube/twitter campaign and it's success. They cranked out 200 responses of 45 seconds or less. I suddenly had a vision of you and your cartoon ad. How fun! Can't wait to see it. ::pb&J::
[URL="http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6799701/"][FONT=Consolas]http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6799701/[/FONT][/URL]
In this case, I've added 10 seconds at the end to mention our most recent addition. If I would have had this when she started, I would have included it in her orientation, as a fun little welcome.