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Personal internet usage at work (Page 2)
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Originally Posted by mattyb
DAMN, did I have a wrong impression about you!
Maybe I shouldn't ask what you mean by that...
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Lets be clear, I understand colleague engagement is both important and necessary for employees to want to work hard for their boss but you have to draw a line, my job is all about results and my employees too, If they are spending excessive amouts of time
on the Internet or playing angry birds then it's impossible for them to deliver maximum results. I actually have no problem with employees sending text messages or looking up something quickly on wikipedia but you must keep it timely and not allow it to directly hinder there results, there is high expectations, you can't meet those on YouTube.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues
Maybe I shouldn't ask what you mean by that...
Not an insult , just thought that you were a student/layabout type. Dunno why. Blame Dakar.
=======================
So now you know that people are surfing at work. But is any work that needs to be done, not getting done? Are the employees meeting objectives? Are your figures good? If so, and this isn't a joke, why not ask those that are paid hourly if they want to leave an hour earlier. Then in a week or so, look at your figures again.
I personally have a very cyclical job. We are 2 DBAs and either everything is calm or all hell is breaking loose. We have management that tends to buy equipment at the very last moment, so proper planning usually gets thrown out of the window. If there's a problem, I stay until its resolved. I do my hours and then go home, otherwise I could be here 24/7.
Maybe your place is over staffed.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Originally Posted by mattyb
Not an insult , just thought that you were a student/layabout type. Dunno why. Blame Dakar.
He was, two years ago. Now he's Mr. NoMic McSeriouspants.
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So, coincidence that the two guys of the three people commenting on time stealing are in the bank industry?
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Also, I value my company's time too much to read Salty's posts.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by The Final Dakar
Also, I value my company's time too much to read Salty's posts.
That's worth a quote.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues
Lets be clear, I understand colleague engagement is both important and necessary for employees to want to work hard for their boss but you have to draw a line, my job is all about results and my employees too, If they are spending excessive amouts of time
on the Internet or playing angry birds then it's impossible for them to deliver maximum results. I actually have no problem with employees sending text messages or looking up something quickly on wikipedia but you must keep it timely and not allow it to directly hinder there results, there is high expectations, you can't meet those on YouTube.
Nobody's advocating for getting paid to play Angry Birds. I think people are just saying that when there's a lul and you need a mental break, the boss shouldn't get mad about you checking out CNN.com, MacNN, or Groupon because you're wondering and you don't wanna keep playing with post it notes.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by Salty
Nobody's advocating for getting paid to play Angry Birds. I think people are just saying that when there's a lul and you need a mental break, the boss shouldn't get mad about you checking out CNN.com, MacNN, or Groupon because you're wondering and you don't wanna keep playing with post it notes.
I'm sorry but people who check out Groupon shouldn't be fired - they should be shot.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
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Originally Posted by Doofy
I'm sorry but people who check out Groupon shouldn't be fired - they should be shot.
Yeah! Screw them for wanting to save some money! If they can't afford to pay full price for things they don't deserve those things.
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All glory to the hypnotoad.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by jokell82
Yeah! Screw them for wanting to save some money! If they can't afford to pay full price for things they don't deserve those things.
The race to the bottom (price wise) fuels a race to the bottom in quality. And let's face it, there's nothing you need on Groupon - you're only buying the crap because it's (1) cheap, (2) there and (3) everyone else is buying it. So, exhibiting standard moronic consumer behaviour.
So, in the context of this thread...
1) People are buying things that they don't need for cheaper and cheaper prices.
2) These same people expect a minimum wage (and for their wage to keep up with inflation).
3) These same people are being less productive by goofing off work looking at Groupon.
4) These same people wonder why China makes all their crap and why there's a financial crisis.
Thus, shot in the face with a 12-bore loaded with chilli peppers. It's the only way to go.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Today's culture of "I want everything given to me for no effort" fuels silly-sounding, harsh work rules. The common "work ethic" seems to be "work? only enough to get along" which means that to get things done at all, management has to be pretty harsh at times. People with a more old-fashioned work ethic ("I'm going to work so hard and so well that the boss will suggest a raise before I do") don't need those rules in the first place, but when your business is built around the expectation that more workers will be old-fashioned than non-productive, you need to adapt to stay in business, thus rules like "get caught wasting time online while on the clock, and you're fired."
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
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I have always ignored Groupon as invasive spam. Mostly because it pops up like those stupid online poker sites all the time.
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I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Last week I paid $10 for a $20 gift card to a place I visit every other week for pizza. I saved $10, and I was happy about it.
Two weeks before, I paid $30 for a $80 massage at a place that I go whenever I'm having back trouble. Coincidentally, I've been having back trouble.
Groupon isn't always valuable, and I delete 80% of the Emails I receive from them, but those constant Emails are worth it for me to save $60 on things I was going to buy anyways.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Originally Posted by Doofy
The race to the bottom (price wise) fuels a race to the bottom in quality. And let's face it, there's nothing you need on Groupon - you're only buying the crap because it's (1) cheap, (2) there and (3) everyone else is buying it. So, exhibiting standard moronic consumer behaviour.
...and who fostered this behavior? Might it be, oh, the commercial industry and 50 years of advertising?
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Moderator
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Originally Posted by ghporter
People with a more old-fashioned work ethic ("I'm going to work so hard and so well that the boss will suggest a raise before I do") don't need those rules in the first place
I think the notion of bosses giving raises without being asked faded away decades ago along with the notion of "company man", if indeed it ever really existed.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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Originally Posted by ghporter
Today's culture of "I want everything given to me for no effort" fuels silly-sounding, harsh work rules. The common "work ethic" seems to be "work? only enough to get along" which means that to get things done at all, management has to be pretty harsh at times. People with a more old-fashioned work ethic ("I'm going to work so hard and so well that the boss will suggest a raise before I do") don't need those rules in the first place, but when your business is built around the expectation that more workers will be old-fashioned than non-productive, you need to adapt to stay in business, thus rules like "get caught wasting time online while on the clock, and you're fired."
The problem is that today's management doesn't value the "I'll work so hard the boss will suggest a raise before I do." Most people know that their raises aren't based at all on how much they do for the company, but rather how long they've been there. It's all established scales so that the hardest workers don't get rewarded.
I worked for a while at Sears between semesters at college. I worked my ass off in the receiving dept while a woman in her 50s supervised me for more than double my wage. Her entire job seemed to be sifting through papers and mentioning that they hadn't booked enough people in our department so I needed to work extra hard so that the truck would be unloaded before my shift ended. And I did it. It wasn't until I worked a few more jobs that I realized that the reason that they didn't have more people working was because the money used to pay people at other stores was being spent to pay this woman's salary.
When I worked for a cell company I regularly was treated as if it was my privilege to simply have a job where I was essentially earning minimum half the time unless I hit some insane sales targets for new activations that weren't practical to expect because I didn't work at one of the mall stores. (When I got transferred I never had trouble hitting those targets.) They'd often fudge my wages even though I was tasked personally with keeping track of how much money I made for the store. I twas always much more than double what they paid me.
I think one of the reasons why the North American work ethic has gone so far down the tubes is that we're all educated enough to know how badly we're getting screwed over.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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While I don't disagree, Salty, you have to look at things from a management perspective. If most "workers" are actually slackers, it is quite hard to properly evaluate the performance of one outstanding worker. There is too much "noise" in terms of bad work habits for the boss to be able to adequately recognize the good workers. He spends so much time and effort on the bad ones, there is too little time left to deal with the one good worker.
Maybe if businesses were a lot choosier about who they hired, this wouldn't be a big problem. But how do you know when an applicant is only putting out a maximum effort to get hired, versus actually showing his true nature?
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by Salty
I think one of the reasons why the North American work ethic has gone so far down the tubes is that we're all educated enough to know how badly under the assumption that we're getting screwed over because we have unrealistic expectations of what we should be getting in return for our slacking off.
Fixinatedness.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Damn entitlement mentality is killing the West.
-t
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
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I think the sense of entitlement probably comes form seeing so many brain dead imbeciles making money hand over fist without the first clue how they are doing it. At least thats the impression that many of them give. Very little work, very little knowledge, very much money.
Crap like American Idol hasn't helped either.
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I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Don't give the "entitled masses" so much credit. They don't rationalize their entitledness, they just are... Having an excuse for being greedy and lazy is why they complain that stupids make tons of money. They don't see that their "stupid" may just be what I might call "dogged" or even "boring." They have a scapegoat for their own laziness, so they're happy with it.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Actually...
Yer slackers with entitlement mentality actively seek "stupid" as a distraction so they don't have to do any work - which is why "stupid" is making a lot of money. Which the slackers then incorporate into their excuse system... ...but don't process the connection between them being the consumers of "stupid" and "stupid" making zillions... ...which continues the cycle.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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A person theoretically shouldn't be using the web for leisure during non-break work hours, but occasional light use outside of that shouldn't be a cause for problems as long as job performance is high. Labor is so cheap and plentiful today - it's an employer's market - and many people who are employed are being overworked (filling multiple roles) and underpaid, at least from my vantage point. Employers don't need to make things even harder by placing unnecessary additional burdens on workers, but if someone is slacking it's clear that said person doesn't care much about the job being done and won't care too much about being let go.
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Last edited by Big Mac; May 22, 2011 at 09:55 AM.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2011
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Originally Posted by OisÃn
YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, etc. Lots of these types of sites are blocked where I work, too, and I can understand that.
Sometimes they overreact, though: I visited MacNN from work once (it was three in the morning in the middle of a night shift, there was absolutely nothing to do—and I hadn’t brought a book. So MacNN it was!), and the next day I came in and found that MacNN had been blocked. That was a bit over the top. At least I’d brought a book for the second night.
(MacNN has since been unblocked, for whatever reason)
Try proxies <very commercial looking link removed> or add https before the link.. )
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Last edited by ghporter; May 23, 2011 at 10:24 PM.
Reason: Spamish link removed...)
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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This thread needs more KCrosbie.
...and less possible spam.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Web Surfing Makes You Work Better, Study Says - WSJ.com
The researchers conducted two studies. In the first, they assigned 96 undergraduate management students into one of three groups—a control group, a "rest-break" group and a Web-surfing group. All subjects spent 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e's as they could find in a sample text. For the next 10 minutes, the control group was assigned another simple task; members of the rest-break group could do whatever they pleased, except surf the Internet; and the third group could browse the Web. Afterward, all of the subjects spent another 10 minutes highlighting more letters.
The researchers found that the Web-surfers were significantly more productive and effective at the tasks than those in the other two groups and reported lower levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and higher levels of engagement.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: San Diego
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So highlighting the letter E correlates to better job performance?
God help us.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2001
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"It's ok as long as it doesn't affect performance and my work is done."
The problem with this is no matter who you ask, everyone will say, of themselves, that THEY get all their work done and internet doesn't affect their performance.
How many people admit that they are the lazy one at work. Everyone thinks they're the smartest, most down to earth, hardest worker at the place and if they get fired it's always because the boss didn't like them or was racist or whatever.
I wouldn't mind moderate internet usage but that's seldom how it is in my experience. A certain type of people seem to think internet and cell phone are a right and will spend hours browsing football nonsense and arguing about it. I tried banning many sites but now they just all take breakes when the supervisor isn't looking to browse their iPhone. I hate that damn iPhone. And when I threaten them about the iphone they use the excuse that they have kids that may need to reach them in emergency and that Im attacking their kids.... They never use it to contact their kids... They use it for stupid Nintendo like games, scrabble, Facebook, watching football video etc..
It is counter productive to just ban the net from computers because it's suppose to be there in case they need to research something related to the job or to answer a customer's question.
For the people saying internet makes people more productive; it's funny how times have changed. Before internet existed... it wasn't needed to make people more productive. People have just gotten more laz.y
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Last edited by el chupacabra; Aug 22, 2011 at 11:36 PM.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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I still think whips are the answer.
Anyone remember what used to happen before mobile phones when kids needed to reach their parents in an emergency? They phoned the office and the office grabbed the parent. Bizarre, no?
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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I remember it vividly. Today it seems like it would be a major inconvenience, but it didn't feel like it at the time.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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I always thought it sucked.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
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I always thought you sucked, too.
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Moderator
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Location: inside 128, north of 90
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Those were also the days where the boss would dock you for using the company phone if your kid called you.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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Honestly, I feel like personal phone use is still scrutinized more highly than internet usage today.
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Addicted to MacNN
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I can see employers caring about Internet use if you're dealing with the general public on a constant basis, IE: retail jobs, service industry, banking, etc.
But in an office setting where work gets done out of sight of the public, it's downright criminal (IMHO) to treat people like children and breathe down their necks over petty bullshit like how much they use the Internet.
First of all, don't hire dipshits. HR is critical: actually screen resumes, check references, hire only people that are vouched for as straight shooters. A dipshit-free work environment is critical.
Second, make it abundantly clear: Next Tuesday morning, 10am, thus and such WILL be finished, turned in, signed off on. It will be done correctly and exactly as assigned. Period.
In the meantime: Do whatever the f you damned well please. Stand on your head. Toss nerf objects at each other/the walls.whatever. Surf the web. Watch movies, play video games. Take naps. Twiddle your freakin' thumbs. Stand on your head. Build castles out of cheese doodles. Nobody cares.
Just keep in mind: Next Tuesday morning, 10am, thus and such WILL be finished, turned in, signed off on. It will be done correctly and exactly as assigned. Period.
However/whenever the shit gets done... the shit gets done.
Now, when a dipshit happens to skate under the hiring radar, abuses the 'do whatever you damn well please' privileges, and misses a 'Next Tuesday' deadline even once?
That type of person should find themselves working elsewhere, for some other dipshit who will breathe down their neck all day about petty bullcrap like using the Internet, IE: a deadend job where they belong.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
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Like most people here, I voted for option 3.
Though to some extent I would have to say and agree that it is a way of stealing the company's time, totally prohibiting personal internet usage at work could backfire and may even be detrimental to the company's overall productivity.
I happen to manage a group of employees who do their respective work on their computers. I never restrict them nor prohibit them to use the internet for personal matters. However, I just constantly monitor what they do on the computer and try to remind them the thin line between moderate personal internet usage and abusing it.
That kind of work environment works for all of us. As long as all the work is done at the end of day, I'm fine with it.
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Last edited by sabesade; Oct 27, 2011 at 10:44 PM.
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Mississippi
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You wouldn't like me or the guys I work with...
We eat at work, sleep at work, surf the net, watch football games, movies and the news sometime. We even play the playstation.
We are paid by the hour...I work a 24 hour shift but I am only paid for 14 hours at $10.50 an hour. My boss is okay with us doing all of that as long as we do our daily duties.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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My take on this has always been based on the kind of work and how much "personal" Internet usage impacts that work. My current job requires online research, coordination for business via email, a significant amount of text message usage for minute to minute work coordination, and so on-it would be hard to tell whether I'm doing something personal or not, except for the fact that I'm so busy I don't have much time for personal anything. In contrast, there are a number of people where I work who are not so busy, and who could manage to spend time surfing the Web instead of doing their jobs, and that could be a major problem.
For example, if someone has Internet access and is in a position to spend time doing something other than working when there is work that should be done right then, then that personal Internet use is not appropriate. To contrast with that, in the case of someone like a firefighter or other "waiting for a major job to do" worker, there's plenty of reason to keep the worker ready to work and no real opportunity for the worker to fiddle around with Lolcats instead of donning bunker gear and hopping onto the firetruck.
What about "Joe Office Worker" who has a relatively steady flow of tasks to do, and can consolidate them at his/her option? That's a very different issue, as is the situation where a worker in a customer service setting could be getting information and managing customer issues, or could be avoiding doing anything for customers while "looking like he's working." I do not see a way to establish a hard-and-fast rule for this sort of thing, even within a particular workplace. This basically requires a manager to actively and consistently manage what his/her people are doing. Unfortunately, too many people in the "manager" position don't know how to do that without sounding like either a wimp or a dragon, thus not-too-intelligent rules get written and not properly or consistently enforced.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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