Comments on: How Do I Keep My Employees From Wasting Time On Facebook? http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:54:04 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anthony Bradley http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-413 Anthony Bradley Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:11:20 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/#comment-413 Why stop there Kate. Let's tap their phones to make sure they are not making personal calls (the phone is just a quick dial-tone away). Also, we should consider video cameras to make sure they aren't wasting time talking to coworkers (they are just one cubical away). All due respect to your technology (I'm sure it is great technology), but, IMO, this is not a technology problem. This is a plain old management issue. You simply can't automate good employee behavior. Why stop there Kate. Let’s tap their phones to make sure they are not making personal calls (the phone is just a quick dial-tone away). Also, we should consider video cameras to make sure they aren’t wasting time talking to coworkers (they are just one cubical away).

All due respect to your technology (I’m sure it is great technology), but, IMO, this is not a technology problem. This is a plain old management issue. You simply can’t automate good employee behavior.

]]> By: Kate Miller http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-410 Kate Miller Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:36:04 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/#comment-410 Employees waste time online because they can. As simple as that. It is tempting, it is one click away. Every business should have Internet Usage Policy in place and monitoring Software. There is no need to block access or restrict anything if there is a proper Corporate Internet Usage Police in place. Every employer must have a way to track Internet usage and get back to the individuals who abuse it. Our Internet filter Integard Professional was specifically developed for small to medium businesses. Many business owners say they should have installed it earlier. The extent of inappropriate Internet usage was shocking, according to many. Kate Miller Integard - Better Safe than Sorry www.raceriver.com Employees waste time online because they can. As simple as that.
It is tempting, it is one click away.

Every business should have Internet Usage Policy in place and monitoring Software. There is no need to block access or restrict anything if there is a proper Corporate Internet Usage Police in place.

Every employer must have a way to track Internet usage and get back to the individuals who abuse it.

Our Internet filter Integard Professional was specifically developed for small to medium businesses. Many business owners say they should have installed it earlier. The extent of inappropriate Internet usage was shocking, according to many.

Kate Miller
Integard – Better Safe than Sorry
http://www.raceriver.com

]]> By: Anthony Bradley http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-214 Anthony Bradley Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:09:17 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/#comment-214 You bring up some important points. It isn't about wasting time on the internet. People will waste time whether it is on the phone, on the internet, at another employees cube or whatever. Employees wasting time is a management NOT a technology issue. I certainly hope you would not advocate restricting internet access because some employees may use it to waste time. Inappropriate use of the internet is another issue. This is a governance challenge and I have put out a series of research on establishing Web participation policy and guidelines. Though few do, all organizations should have a Web participation governance strategy and associated guidelines to send a clear message on appropriate and inappropriate usage. Bandwidth is yet another issue. This is a resource issue. Assuming that management practices are in place to stave off wasted employee time and governance is also in place to cover inappropriate use then what remains is legitimate use (with a little unaviodable illegitimate use mixed in). Under this assumption then the answer to the bandwidth issue is .... get more bandwidth. These are all surmountable challenges. What is the alternative, shutting off internet access? Good luck competing in the Web 2.0 world with that approach. Every new technology comes with adoption challenges. Here is an article comparing the governments approach to restricting internet access with the past attitudes towards restricting use of the telephone http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1062/ You bring up some important points. It isn’t about wasting time on the internet. People will waste time whether it is on the phone, on the internet, at another employees cube or whatever. Employees wasting time is a management NOT a technology issue. I certainly hope you would not advocate restricting internet access because some employees may use it to waste time. Inappropriate use of the internet is another issue. This is a governance challenge and I have put out a series of research on establishing Web participation policy and guidelines. Though few do, all organizations should have a Web participation governance strategy and associated guidelines to send a clear message on appropriate and inappropriate usage. Bandwidth is yet another issue. This is a resource issue. Assuming that management practices are in place to stave off wasted employee time and governance is also in place to cover inappropriate use then what remains is legitimate use (with a little unaviodable illegitimate use mixed in). Under this assumption then the answer to the bandwidth issue is …. get more bandwidth. These are all surmountable challenges. What is the alternative, shutting off internet access? Good luck competing in the Web 2.0 world with that approach. Every new technology comes with adoption challenges. Here is an article comparing the governments approach to restricting internet access with the past attitudes towards restricting use of the telephone http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1062/

]]> By: Doug Taylor http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-213 Doug Taylor Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:39:06 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/#comment-213 The issue isn’t about visiting Facebook, YouTube or ESPN a couple of minutes each day – the real issue is when employees abuse the privilege of using sites like these. The evidence is out there – The Pew Internet Project found that employees waste up to two hours a day on non-work related activities, the biggest one being personal Internet surfing. According to a new report by Nielsen Online, most online videos in the U.S. are watched at work between 9am and 5pm during the work week. Even the online porn industry confirms that the most popular time spent on their sites is during work hours. This isn’t just a waste of employer paid time – it robs the organization of bandwidth, causes IT headaches due to downloaded malware and reduced storage capacity and opens up organizations to legal issues such as sexual harassment, illegal media downloads and potentially embarrassing public relations nightmares such as sexual predators and child porn arrests. According to a survey conducted by SpectorSoft of its customers who use that company's Spector 360 PC and Internet monitoring software – 96% said the software confirmed their original suspicions. 89% of the companies surveyed found more abuse than they expected, with 28% finding "far more" abuse. The issue isn’t about visiting Facebook, YouTube or ESPN a couple of minutes each day – the real issue is when employees abuse the privilege of using sites like these. The evidence is out there – The Pew Internet Project found that employees waste up to two hours a day on non-work related activities, the biggest one being personal Internet surfing. According to a new report by Nielsen Online, most online videos in the U.S. are watched at work between 9am and 5pm during the work week. Even the online porn industry confirms that the most popular time spent on their sites is during work hours. This isn’t just a waste of employer paid time – it robs the organization of bandwidth, causes IT headaches due to downloaded malware and reduced storage capacity and opens up organizations to legal issues such as sexual harassment, illegal media downloads and potentially embarrassing public relations nightmares such as sexual predators and child porn arrests. According to a survey conducted by SpectorSoft of its customers who use that company’s Spector 360 PC and Internet monitoring software – 96% said the software confirmed their original suspicions. 89% of the companies surveyed found more abuse than they expected, with 28% finding “far more” abuse.

]]> By: Butt Out IT! Facebook "Productivity Loss" Is No Concern of Yours http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-172 Butt Out IT! Facebook "Productivity Loss" Is No Concern of Yours Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:40:46 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2008/11/19/how-do-i-keep-my-employees-from-wasting-time-on-facebook/#comment-172 [...] of IT departments worried about people wasting time on social networking sites like Facebook. But Anthony is a much nicer guy than I am. Oh sure, I firmly believe there’s a lot of time wasting going on. But it’s [...] [...] of IT departments worried about people wasting time on social networking sites like Facebook. But Anthony is a much nicer guy than I am. Oh sure, I firmly believe there’s a lot of time wasting going on. But it’s [...]

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