Your work/internet policy...

[L_W_P]

So most offices these days have some sort of "No internet usage during work hours" type policy. My question to the GD board is: Are these policies outdated for today's generation?

I have been pulled up a couple of times for having Big Footy open on the desktop while on the phone to a client. I figure that working in a call centre, where there is no physical interaction with the customer, this wouldn't be a big deal. It's not stopping me doing my job. In fact, yesterday I was presented with an award for my fantastic customer service and work ethic.

I can understand things like Youtube being on the list due to cost. If 50 people in an office all went to look at cats playing pianos in their spare time the data would add up, but surely the humble website or Facebook page shouldn't be taboo in the year 2014.

Do office managers have it right? Is blocking all internet usage better than empowering employees to act responsibly?

 

[BALKAN]

I think it's perfectly reasonable that people should be able to use Facebook/browse forums if they have some down time. However, there are people who's work would suffer from this and it's much easier to just have a blanket ban on internet usage rather than allow it and try and take it away from certain people later on down the track.

 

[LukasTheGreat]

I spend more time on my phone internet/PS vita than I actually do working.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

I'm at work now... Come at me, bosses.

 

[FootyJunkie]

I'm at work now... Come at me, bosses.

 

[Quivorir]

I am logged into BF with it open 8-5. I still do my job and do it well though.

 

[Gibbsy]

I am logged into BF with it open 8-5. I still do my job and do it well though.

How can BF possibly offer a constant 9 hours of entertainment a day? That's when you know you're in too deep

 

[The Passenger]

i couldn't do my job (computer programming) without accessing the internet and having free rein over what i visit. i also reckon everyone needs 5-10 minutes of downtown every hour to just clear their head.

if someone starts pulling you up for going on the net start pulling them up for going to get coffee, have a ciggie - basically anything they do that you don't which eats into their time in front of the computer. the problem is if said person is your boss you probably won't have a job.

the biggest killer to organisation's though isn't people being late, or taking breaks, or browsing the internet. it's people who work dumb. and most middle managers have no idea how to spot people who don't work efficiently.

 

[Harry Yorkie]

I blame my employer for not making my job interesting enough for me so I'm not logged in to BF all day.

 

[JuddsABlue]

I don't spend much time in the office but have free reign when I do and couldn't imagine not

It would be quite mind numbing not being able to surf the net throughout an entire day in front of a computer

 

[JuddsABlue]

I also think it's pretty valuable having privacy. I'd hate having a screen that's visible to other workers/have people stand over your shoulder or behind you at your desk

My boss spends most of his time on golf websites etc, so it's not an issue if I'm looking at other things but nobody can see my screen freely unless they walk directly behind my desk which I like

 

[Bosun]

So when people on here say they have free reign, Does your employer/IT department not enforce any sort of content filtering?

 

[JuddsABlue]

So when people on here say they have free reign, Does your employer/IT department not enforce any sort of content filtering?

No, no filtering or checking or anything like that

Could youjizz it up all day

 

[Bosun]

No, no filtering or checking or anything like that

Could youjizz it up all day

So no proxy, no gateway security? Security and HR measures will depend on industry and staff I guess, just find it very odd and honestly ****ing lax.

 

[JuddsABlue]

So no proxy, no gateway security? Security and HR measures will depend on industry and staff I guess, just find it very odd and honestly ******* lax.

Yeah it's more of a staff thing I guess, have a small office setup etc

But I worked for a much larger company that had several office floors full of people that had no real filter etc. I assume there would be something, but I never ran into any trouble on social networking sites and forums along with sports betting

 

[Bosun]

Yeah it's more of a staff thing I guess, have a small office setup etc

But I worked for a much larger company that had several office floors full of people that had no real filter etc. I assume there would be something, but I never ran into any trouble on social networking sites and forums along with sports betting

Yeah ok that would be different however if you have any restricted/internal data you wouldn't make public I would worry however it would again depend on your risk profile. When it comes to social networking and betting it would fall under HR rather than security. If someone in your office and pulls up pr0n even innocently someone else would/might get offended and can potentially take legal action, hence why filters are usually are put in place.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

We have no access to social networking, or webmail, and a whole swag of sites are blocked. Don't know about BF, never tried, but I think most forums that they know about are blocked unless they might relate to work (there is a way to push a case to get a site unblocked if required).

 

[Quivorir]

How can BF possibly offer a constant 9 hours of entertainment a day? That's when you know you're in too deep

It doesnt. Im not looking at it 9 hours a day, its open. I am subbed to a lot of threads though.

 

[Quivorir]

So no proxy, no gateway security? Security and HR measures will depend on industry and staff I guess, just find it very odd and honestly ******* lax.

I work for a software dev company, small though. But if they tried to block anything we could easily get around it. Plus we are the IT people

 

[dont bowl there]

The biggest killer to organisation's though isn't people being late, or taking breaks, or browsing the internet. it's people who work dumb. and most middle managers have no idea how to spot people who don't work efficiently.

This paragraph just summed up my work week perfectly, quite amazing really.

 

[Run n Spread]

Completely outdated. A novel concept may be treating people as paid professionals to do a job. Treat them as adults without looking over their shoulders every 5 minutes and you may find work actually gets done and people use the net as a quick 5 minute break/recharge before relaunching. For the most part workers get the business done if treated like valued adults. (At least I've found).

Put draconian rules and silly procedures in place and you are bound to get a negative reaction. No one likes being excessively controlled and they will bite back.

 

[Messenger]

Completely outdated. A novel concept may be treating people as paid professionals to do a job. Treat them as adults without looking over their shoulders every 5 minutes and you may find work actually gets done and people use the net as a quick 5 minute break/recharge before relaunching. For the most part workers get the business done if treated like valued adults. (At least I've found).

Put draconian rules and silly procedures in place and you are bound to get a negative reaction. No one likes being excessively controlled and they will bite back.

We tightened up our internet policy when receptionists were more interested in winning an eBay auction or scoring on eHarmony than dealing with the customer in front of them.

 

[Run n Spread]

We tightened up our internet policy when receptionists were more interested in winning an eBay auction or scoring on eHarmony than dealing with the customer in front of them.

If they were given a cut of the profit/share options/included in strategic meetings commiserate with their area (relevant to their role and experience) I'd be amazed. If they were given the standard shitty wage and lumped with all the responsibilities of dealing front on with shitty clients I'm hardly surprised.

 

[iluvparis]

We tightened up our internet policy when receptionists were more interested in winning an eBay auction or scoring on eHarmony than dealing with the customer in front of them.

eHarmony profile details plz

 

[Messenger]

If they were given a cut of the profit/share options/included in strategic meetings commiserate with their area (relevant to their role and experience) I'd be amazed. If they were given the standard shitty wage and lumped with all the responsibilities of dealing front on with shitty clients I'm hardly surprised.

The people I'm interested in having in planning discussions are the one who tend to have sufficient common sense to not do that sort of thing.