Your boss declares martial law on Facebook

One of them is right here in Seattle. Boeing. Pretty standard for many of the private contractors in the DC area that work on government contracts like SAIC and CSC.

It's the same for us "blue badges", Ted. Still, I agree that they pay me to design planes, not to chat and be social unless it's on my break.

Now you have me totally confused Jay..."Blue Badges" designing planes ?

I thought you were the guy with the three speeding tickets over the last six years ? ++cough++

Eastside Blue Badges do other things.....

Speeding tickets? You got the wrong guy, partner. I have had only one in the last 6 years (knocking on wood). But, yeah, here on the BCA side, we blue badges design the planes (with contribution from our "partners", although the oversight remains here in the Puget Sound area).

You have a twin then....Like a Seattle PI reader maybe....:-)

I routinely visit with my neighbors and friends and family and hold no criminal record (aside from three speeding tickets over the last six years).

Let's see... Growing up, I watched the Road Runner and Coyote mercilessly try to do one another in....
Posted by Jay Keggerlord at 11/5/07 6:16 a.m.

I get paid for my ideas, freelance, so I bill hours accordingly. I use my own laptop and files where I keep all of my work, so I do not have to have to suffer someone over my back. I will never, ever put up with the demeaning B-@!$%# that passes for labor relationships these days, and I am soon to begin a project with my oldest son so he never has to either. It's called opting out, and the reason facebook and myspace is the enemy to corporate PTB is that I can make more money networking and marketing on my own than some office gig can offer me.

With rates as low as they are, investors abound, looking for somebody with an idea or project who will pay more than a money market or CD.

Thanks but no thanks, corporate slavers.

Exactly.

Plus, no actual wage increase. Decrease in benefits. Increase in working hours. My boss leaves at 3:30pm every Friday. You know what? I'll hit MySpace if I want, and my boss knows it. He knows I'm also a very productive employee who gets precious few 'extras' in today's economic climate.

gergjarvis.... Your boss is wrong to allow you to be on Facebook and other sites. You are paid to do a job. If you have time to be on Facebook, then you have time for another assignment.

You better hope that the company doesn't start looking at the bottom line, otherwise you will be soon quitting. Especially when they turn off your so-called "privilege".

Your future boss.

'Do you think it's OK to hang out on Facebook or MySpace during work hours?'

They should be fired on the spot if caught.

Besides, MySpace is nothing but a kazillion people all waving their hands at the same time saying 'Hey, look at ME!'

And Facebook keeps all your data permanently, even if you 'delete' (ha ha) your account.

(Warning: if you question this statement, I'm going to put up the link to my article from last October where I warned Viners about this. Here's a hint: When you quit Facebook, the last thing they tell you is you can re-activate your original account simply by entering your username and password. And your profile and all other entries remain the same. How do you think they DO that?)

Gregjarvis. As a business owner I can tell you the employees that spend any time playing on the net are just minutes from being fired. You may think this is harsh but the corporate world is unforgiving and work is what the employee is being paid for. Time to grow up and get to work not run off to myspace anytime you think the boss is not looking. If you have time for messing around you have time for more work. After a detailed accounting of office productivity I can tell you who is working or not and who is keeping their job. The future of any company depends on productivity and employee dedication to that end not some immature need to social network.

Deelite,

Even during lunch time, you are using company resources. How would you feel if they said you could us the internet during this time, online if you paid an access fee per day? Lets say, $5 per day. I would guess that you would wait until you got home.

Well, here we block YouTube for a very obvious reason. If everybody was watching streaming videos, there wouldn't be enough bandwidth to send out the work-related e-mails.

There will always be those few that abuse the system and spend hours just on the Internet and those need to be handled on a case by case incident. Same thing is true of cell phone users at work that browse the Internet via their cell phone, that gets really tricky to handle as there is no way to monitor that unless you physically observe it.

Agree completely Tedd. It's obvious from the comments that each particular organization has its own set of business requirements, IT regulations and company culture. There is no "one size fits all" strategy.

And as you've mentioned, the size of the organization plays a role, too. In a small business, it's easier to allow employees to surf a little here and there. I do it, so I can't see stopping my employees/subcontractors from doing the same. Of course, like the earlier poster, I own a graphic/web design/marketing business, so knowing about what's happening on the web and social networks is very important to the business.

Most of the people that I work with they are already blocked from sites like MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube partially because of bandwidth issues on the network

I ought to have read further before I made my comment above.

I ought to have read further before I made my comment above.

I might help to have a bit more up to date UI also instead of almost DOS like comment strings, rather hard to read all the comments and then go back and find the one you were planning on commenting on in the first place...We are not that short on bandwidth. Plus I think...we are on new servers this weekend, maybe...

Plus I think...we are on new servers this weekend, maybe...

Oooh! Hardware upgrade!!

I hope they're physical servers and not VMs (virtual machines). At work, we've bought into the whole virtualization craze, and, while it's a good idea when it comes to the many underutilized servers we have/had, but I wouldn't be virtualizing critical or high-utilization servers. The Newsinve team seems pretty competent, though (more competent than we are in government, I'd hope).

New Servers and they got a good deal on Vista I heard also....

LinkedIn is a totally different concept. That we use all the time. That is a professional tool and is great for Networking and also for job hunting. Its not aimed at the Teenage set at all like Facebook is, very different use.

Many LinkIn folks are adding Facebook professionally. I have a professional Facebook page. I just don't hug, kiss or take sex quizzes on that one. :D

I have only used Facebook a few times and that was since I joined NV, I was not aware of that. The only Facebook site I ever saw that looked professional was Mike D's. The rest have been kinda loud....

You are thinking of Myspace. I have a page for my office there was as well. Loud is a choice I don't make. My a>is also low key.

Nope...Mike D. has a site on FaceBook is the one I am talking about, it does not look like Facebook at all.

I was not aware you could do any major customization of Facebook or than just not having a lot of modules. Got a link?

I'll do. someplace...It was on his homepage and maybe Newsvine, It had a Funny title, something like "Mike D Tackles Facebook" Its been a while since I saw it...Let me do some searching, I know I saved it as I was amazed at what he did.

hint hint have you seen mine...(~)

I used to spend as much time on Facebook as I did on Newsvine...

I agree that it should not be used in worktime unless your on a break or have the express permission to do so because it enhances your company , you or your computer skills..

hint hint have you seen mine..

I am hoping your asking Gwenny that question, I am somewhat of a old fashioned boring engineer type, I still prefer the opposite sex...sorry !

@barrys-rutherford

No....I cannot find you on Facebook ? on you in the NV group ?

try barryrutherford

I still cannot find you ! Unless for some reason that is looking at US only ? that is strange ??

My managers don't like my attitude, see it as a weakness, and would prefer that I be tougher with my team for the sake of being tougher

Whoa....Do I ever know that feeling ! I do the exact same as you. I just have to be a little "rigid" on those contract with Government or State agencies that have the "No Internet, No I/O Port" requirements on them.

Those can be a bit less rewarding to work on, glad I don't get too many of those.

You gentlemen are both spot on, unless your a marketing institution, I just can't see the need unless it's on their own time. They are paid to work on a specific job and only if using either of those social sites helps them, which they would have to explain to me, in no manner, fashion or form would I let them play on either site.

I try and tell even my salaried employees that they should be able to do their jobs in eight hours, people still spend longer but my point is that doesn't impress me. What impresses me is that you do your job under the time allotted and are then able to help more when needed.

Forest

Forest -

I'd like to qualify just one of your statements. Social networks are growing in popularity and companies are just starting to tap into the commercial value of these sites. I sat on Facebook for a few days with 0 friends, trying to figure out (as a software developer) the ways we could leverage the platform for our business. That was just plain silly, because you don't get the full experience until you have the interaction of friends & coworkers on it. Once you do, you see that it becomes an incredibly valuable tool for communication.

The potential for valuable commercial interaction on social networking sites reaches far beyond the marketing department. It's early yet - that potential is not realized - however the only way companies are going to get there is if people do spend the time on the platform, experimenting, brainstorming, and - yes - just plain messing around.

You know what pal, I don't have a problem with that as long as they explain it to me, but if you think for a moment that I'm going to let someone sit at their computer all day without an explanation of why they are earning their paycheck on Newsvine all day they will be fired quicker than I can get their final check out the door. Remember I live in Oregon where it's a fire at will state, and the door swings both ways.

Forest

I don't want an explanation. I just want objectives met. If my employees are meeting their objectives, I see little reason to ask for or even expect an explanation.

How many salaried employees put in more than 45 hours per week? How do we create an environment in which salaried employees enjoy going above and beyond to meet objectives, to make our product more valuable than that of our competitors? Even for those that get paid overtime, is that extra money per hour worth giving up a fraction of their personal life? It depends upon how they value their personal time and what they're doing - and if I, as a manager, can not create a workplace environment that's provides some value above and beyond the paycheck, I will lose talented individuals to other employers who do create that type of workplace and/or can pay better than I can.

Hey your talking to the same guy who provides a pool table and two upright video games for my employee's, so don't try and lecture me on making a work environment that's not healthy.

If my boys ask for a day off for almost any reason I almost always grant it, but when I need overtime to get projects done I'm also almost never turned down. Dicking around on a social web site is not my idea of work, unless you are paying yourself.

Forest

Dicking around on a social web site is not my idea of work, unless you are paying yourself.

But playing pool and video games is considered work, in your opinion?

When they are there after work and at lunch, yes I do, sometimes the guys work half the night on salary, seems fair.

Forest

Then, shouldn't they be able to use Facebook in that time instead?

Sure they could, depends on how big your company is and what they are doing. Mission specific so to speak.

Forest

Mission specific

@Forest Browne,

I thought you were from the PNW ? Yikes, I have not heard that one since my DC or NASA days...

I am, but my dad was a colonel in the Air Force, perhaps that crosses over.

Forest

OK....Then that explains it right there. My dad was a colonel in the Army, so I would pick up some of his lingo also. He always wanted to be Air Force, but Color Blindness stopped that one.

So thanks for the brain re calibration, it was getting a bit moldy up here....

Works Finished??? Do more work. You get paid from start to finish of the day. Not start to part of the day.

If people can take smoke breaks. I should be able to check facebook. ;]

Word, jfrank.

Yes in lieu of a smoke . Social networking should be allocated an equal amounbt of 'smoko time.'

jfrank. You get paid for a days work. If you finish a project ask for another or help someone with theirs. Company's that are too lax on Internet use will eventually figure out the financial costs of such errors, called bankruptcy. Funny how groups that tout the need to be globally connected can not see the global competition from countries where employees work harder,longer and do not expect childish perks like this. Keep working your way out of a job. India, Pakistan, China will all do the same thing cheaper without mistakes. I guess you can work on your face-book profile all you want waiting in line at the unemployment office.

Thank you. Some logic at last.

'Social Networking Site 'Facebook' Could Be Trouble for Users - And Here's Why'

A warning from last November, I think. I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but before you get too carried away with FaceLove, you should know what you are getting into.

Most of us take it for granted, but it's curious how, when we are at work, we give up many of the rights we have when we're off the clock.

I guess that's why they call it "wage slavery".

Doesn't that also bring up another issue that should be of concern. Think about this communications extravaganza we have evolved into, but for the salaried worker this new technology can actually force you to bring your work home and they can track it. Nothing like having your boss give you kudos for sending out e-mails at midnight, thus showing your commitment to the cause.

It goes even farther as the tracking goes into your car whenever you take your phone with you with, I've had customers load up tracking software that tells where all of their employees are when not at the office. It gets worse when it shows when their movements have stopped for more than five minutes and how fast they were going.

This big world is getting smaller and time to yourself will be harder to procure.

Forest

Good points, Forest.

While it hasn't happened so frequently of late, I've had some of my best work-related inspirations when I was on my own time.

This big world is getting smaller and time to yourself will be harder to procure.

This is a good reason to do work that one finds personally (not just financially) rewarding.