Your boss declares martial law on Facebook

Hmmm, interesting comments...Well, since I am commenting here while on company time I wonder if businesses should allow access to sites such as MSNBC or any other site not specific to the business products or services produced? The time is non-productive, I am not on break or lunch and thereby 'stealing' time from my employer and making non-business related use of company equipment and network. It really is hard to logically justify any personal use of business time or equipment...But then how would we make doctor's appointments, talk to our kids teachers, settle personal business concerns if we didn't 'steal' this time. In my opinion, it comes down to abuse. If we abuse the priviledge, we should lose the priviledge. If abuse leads to inferior job performance, then appropriate actions are justified by our company. Making blanket policies and trying to cover everyone's butt, is absolutely not the appropriate action, any more than spending an inordinant amount of time socializing on-line, on personal phone calls or at the local water cooler...

I've always liked the "DO MORE WORK!" argument, especially when it applies to salaried workers. In my first job as a software developer, I was extremely ambitious and would finish my assignments in about 75% of the allotted time. With the extra time on my hands, I would develop side projects, play ping-pong, or *gasp* surf the web (I'm a nerd, so usually something like MSDN). When we got a new manager with the "DO MORE WORK!" attitude, I soon found myself replacing light bulbs and moving office furniture with that extra time. They soon found themselves with an employee who finished his projects in 99.9% of the allotted time.

Block it, don't block it...that's what I have my BlackBerry for. As long as all my work gets done, (which it does, every single day), then who cares?

"On the companies dime" is about right. Keep under paying us, cutting back on our vacation time, and charging us more for health care, and we will get what we are worth one way or another. Corporate America has no one to blame but themselves. Go to college for 4-8 years then make less than a construction worker, and see if your really guilty about spending 30 minutes online a day. Wake up, business world, you get what you pay for!!!!

Unless truly job relaled, it should be no internet at all. It's truly pathetic seeing all the workplace "entitlement mentality" in allot of these postings.

The lazy "my employer owes me" attitude prevalent in the "under 30" crowd is truly amazing. What next? Maybe I should demand a company-paid local newspaper? Is it really that bad that people really think putting "electronic post-it notes" is "socializing"?? Again, that's another issue. Internet "socializing" it's like Monopoly Money being real to those who play Monopoly, but fake money to us in the real world.

Anything ceases to be a right when "everyone else" must pay for it, that would include the company providing internet to you on their own equipment.

I am DIS at a medium sized business. I used to not restrict anything but had overall guidelines of "do nots" with reasons. However, due to radio station streaming, downloading albums, going to crazy sites that let Trojans slip through, free-ware downloading (NOTHING is really free...), personal shopping e-mail confirmations being blocked by our spam filter (guess who is the only one allowed to go in & unblock them), personal e-mail reading that does not go through the exchange server anit-viral checks, and total misuse of the internet by only a very few of our employees, I have had to crack down and use the overall site blocking by category that comes with Sonic Wall.

Such a shame that the misbehavior of the few has punished all...

NO absolutely NO non work-related internet use should be permitted at work. Facebook and the like is self-indulgent nonsense at best and is certyainly not appropriate in the work setting. You have plenty of time at home to do whatever wastes your time to your liking, but NOT AT WORK!!!

I date back to the days of BBS and USENET, so the modern web-based social networking seems slow and cumbersome to me. (And all the ads make me crazy.)

I did want to comment on this from the article: "Before e-mail got so darn trendy, Ol' Bob Cratchit would never think of pushing away his spreadsheet or whatever it was he did, so that he could put quill to parchment and jot down a quick missive to Tiny Tim."

Actually, I have no doubt that, prior to the Wild Wooly Web, workers spent time doing all sort of personal tasks, such as writing letters, doing the checkbook, paying their bills and so forth.

And there's always schmoozing with co-workers around the "water cooler", so the 'net just represents one more available distraction. In the end, it's all about having some discipline and getting your work done.

Ok, i just wanted to throw my 2 cents worth into this. I work 40 hrs a week, 3pm-11pm thurs-mon. thats all weekend long. I work at an answering service, and I am online for the entirety of my shift. (for those that don't know, if you have ever called a dr's office after hours, or a vets office, or a heating/air con repair service, or a plumber, you have spoken to someone that does what i do.)
We have a rush of calls at 5pm when everything closes, but most nights, after about 6pm, it pretty well dies. Very few calls, very little to do other than stare at the walls... or play online. I bring my laptop to work. I've done coursework for college while answering calls, I've coded websites while paging dr's for very pregnant women going into labor. I can honestly say in 2 years working where I work, I have never messed up a call due to being online. Have I ever hung up on someone? Yes, several people, but it had nothing to do with me being online and everything to do with them being rude and/or nasty with me. Granted not everyone can pull this off. If you have trouble doing two things at once, like.. reading and paying attention to what's going on around you, you shouldn't try it. However in some jobs and in some circumstances, I see absolutely no harm in someone being online and on myspace, facebook, msn, yahoo, or anywhere else they please within reason. (yeah oki I do draw the line with viewing porn or nsfw things... they are called nsfw for a reason)

If employees are given two 15 minute breaks in a day, and choose to use them visiting Facebook or MySpace, then that should be OK. I personally visit Facebook to play Scrabble - and that's all I do on the site. My daughter set me up a MySpace page but I don't ever go there - don't even know how to change any of the features. It was initially set up to communicate with out-of-town relatives but I'd just rather email.

My use of Facebook is MUCH less than those who smoke and take their alloted breaks (plus other times throughout the day) to go outside and light up. If they can unwind in this manner, why shouldn't I be allowed to unwind with a play on a Scrabble game? I do however, believe that downloading Facebook "add-ons" should be prohibited on company computers. I won't even download them to my own - except for the Scrabble game.

Regarding computer/phone use (ANY) while on the company's time:

1) If you are on the company's time, they are paying you to WORK, not play, not socialize, not IM, not play games, not shop.
2) If you are on the company's time, they are paying you to WORK, not use a personal cell phone.
3) The company has the right to protect themselves by restricting and monitoring all internet/intranet activity. (Title IV, EEOC comes to mind)

All non-company sanctioned behavior should be enjoyed at home. This includes online shopping, Facebook, My Space, Porn, etc., while on the company's time.
Here's another note: If you're not allowed to drink alcohol on your breaks/lunch time, then you aren't allowed to skylark during the work day either.

It's no wonder that the rest of the world calls us 'Lazy American Workers'.
If your company outsources your job, you can only blame yourself. If you did your job, maybe you could keep your job. Be very grateful for what you have and stop taking your job for granted.

Whatever happened to the old adage:

"If you don't work, you don't eat?"

Apparently, American workers have the 'entitlement' mentality.

Lastly, at one place I knew of, the office staff abused the company's computer access during work hours - they were playing games, shopping, and 'other' things. BTW, did I mention that they were government workers doing this while being paid with YOUR tax dollars?

Want lower taxes or JOB SECURITY? Work when you go to work. Play when you're not.
Want privacy? Then quit your job.

For those who claim to work 16 hour days - OK, just how many of those hours are you REALLY working? Maybe 10 or so? And getting paid for all the hours?

I propose that for every time someone is skylarking with a computer, they should be docked for that hour's pay and any benefits that accrue for that hour, automatically, and without notice.

I'll bet that if you were docked for time not worked, and you discovered that your paycheck was cut by 20%, you would be 'crying in your Wheaties'. Would it be fair? Definitely YES. Would you stop stealing time (time is money) or electricity from your employer? I'll bet you wouldn't say no......

Yes! Companies should block sites like facebook. You are there to work not to play on the net. You are getting paid to work not play on the net.

The short answser to the question is: Of course employees shouldn't be accessing facebook or anything personal on the internet on work time.

However, people spend a lot of time at their worksite and it's nice to have the ability to access all of those personal things before and after work, during breaks and lunches, or during downtime, if there is any. Too many employers today are so demeaning to employees - they don't allow employees to talk to one another, they monitor everyrthing - from trips to the bathroom to where an employee can or can't go on the worksite, that it has shaken employee morale to its very core. It has been proven that happy employees are productive employees; unhappy employees are not as productive.

I worked for the State Library of Pennsylvania and the then and current director of the bureau I worked for treats staff like they are kindergarten children, sometimes even timing restroom breaks. I was lucky - I got to retire. But the folks that are still there are so unhappy and basically just putting in time. This woman wasn't even the recommended person for the job, but politics are politics and they continue to exasperate and frustrate the employees. So, if these folks need a little facebook, myspace, twitter, whatever, to make their day a bit more enjoyable and bearable, I'm all for it.

As long as the employee is getting his or her work done, then a little surfing every once in a while shouldn't be a problem. Obviously if the person's work performance is slipping and they are not being reliable, then they need disciplinary action until the work performance is brought up to speed. You are at work to work, not to surf. Be responsible for your own actions. Work comes first.

Surfing should be treated like any other kind of break that one would take during the day. Like a smoke break for the smokers, it is just that, a break, not something that should be taking up hours of the day. People do need to be allowed to take breaks obviously, and whether someone chooses to spend it polluting their lungs or posting a status on Facebook, it shouldn't matter how that break is spent.

Being in PR, social networking is a must and I'm empowered to use tools like Facebook and Twitter at work. It all comes down to companies having a culture of trust. Employees are entrusted with far greater resources and responsiblities. This trust should extend to social networking at work as well. I blogged about this topic here

@marciecasas