"It is quite remarkable that in this day and age, many employers are still putting their employees' interests as a low priority by not allowing them to use sites like Facebook," Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies said."Facebook is such a popular application that is so widely used for personal and business uses, it makes no business sense to ban it," he added.
Is STW next!! Banned at my workplace so have to read on the mobile in the individual contemplation chambers (Gents Side)
Oh whell.
Happy employees are productive employees, it is that simple.
ha - we were lucky to get access to linkedin at work ...
before I get stuck on the other side I'm amazed you can get to facebook from any work pc that is set up properly!!
Def not a work activity unless you are doing a work facebook site
molgrips - Member
Happy employees are productive employees, it is that simple.
Sounds terrifyingly, horribly, disgustingly familiar. Not good.
my place of work has a simple "be a div on facebook yer fired" policy.
If used in moderation there shouldn't be a problem, some people can not moderate themselves and end up spoiling it for the rest.
And as you say a pointless ban as many people can access the internet through their smartphones.
Could you sugggest to your boss that Facebook could be a useful way of interacting with customers and that the company is missing an opportunity?
Happy employees are productive employees, it is that simple.
He's right you know. If staff are taking the mick on Facebook (or here) then there are some serious motivational issues to address.
Our business uses it's FB page more than the company website.
The thought of having to go to work and get paid to be productive rather than wasting time on FB 🙄
We're a reasonably sized business, say 7,000 employees. As a result we have a dirty great internet pipe. It maxes out between about 11 am and 1pm.
What do you think constitutes the vast majority of that traffic?
Productive employees? Shirkers and layabouts more like. Get back to work!
before I get stuck on the other side I'm amazed you can get to facebook from any work pc that is set up properly!!
My work pc can access anything on the internet. Same for the other several thousand employees and also for all the other large employers I've worked for. They all seem to get along ok but I guess they try to employ people who aren't slackers/porn addicts?
If you have a business of 7000 employees and your internet pipe "maxes out", I don't think you can describe is as "dirty great" by any stretch of the imagination...
I'm still amazed that some companies waste their time policing what sites people visit - it's an overhead managing white lists etc and if the managers are not capable of managing people's time, you need new managers.
Rachel
sorry but they're there to work, not to piss about on facebook/youtube/STW. I've been guilty in the past of pissing about on STW when I should be working, had a "word in my ear" and don't risk it now, so before anyone accuses me of hypocrisy, been there done that got the warning...
Lunchtime excepted, but if everybody starts hitting facebook or youtube or STW at the same time, it could (and probably would) have a detrimental effect on the speed of genuine (i.e. work-related) network traffic.
You could try the "treat em like adults & they'll behave like adults" approach but frankly, for the addicted, it simply doesn't work like that.
Do you work in a chinese sweat factory?
Facebook is a load of bollox anyway.
john_drummer - Membersorry but they're there to work, not to piss about on facebook/youtube/STW.
A lot of people will give better results in a more relaxed atmosphere. Personally, I get more done in 55 minutes with a 5 minute break to mess about than I do in an hour... It's just a new equivalent of nipping out for a fag or a coffee, or having a chat about the holidays.
But of course it's all a matter of degrees, if you had someone who went for a coffee for 2 hours a day you'd have the same words as you would with someone who went on facebook for 2 hours a day.
Some of our students have complained to the library that too many people use the open access computers for Facebook, denying them the opportunity to do some work on them.
I'm still amazed that some companies waste their time policing what sites people visit - it's an overhead managing white lists etc and if the managers are not capable of managing people's time, you need new managers.Rachel
Rachel speaks a lot of sense here.
Give people the access and ask them to be responsible with it ie: in breaks only, or in your own time.
Penalties for those who aren't responsible - down to individual line managers to manage it, same as people who come in late/.leave early/take excessive tea/fag breaks...
Some companies are still living in the dark ages and haven't yet realised that if you treat employees well they'll work harder and better...
If you have a business of 7000 employees and your internet pipe "maxes out", I don't think you can describe is as "dirty great" by any stretch of the imagination...
Perhaps he just meant that those were the times of maximum usage?
We don't have FB usage because some people abused it. Don't care, don't use it. Downtime is important though, so we blow things up occasionally to give everyone a laugh 😉
The stance I took back when I was a sysadmin was that if you want to use the Internet occasionally for personal use then that's fine so long as a) you don't sit on there all day and b) you don't go to any dodgy sites. Everything goes through a proxy server and can be reviewed if I'm asked to by a manager.
Basically, apply some common sense and don't take the piss.
banned at my place, not a prolem really as we are there to work , not pissaround on facebook.
If I were a boss I'd ban it.
probably banned never tried
Ironically, it's banned at our place and then our fb page is advertised on our home page and on the propaganda screens around the building.
So how would you feel if you had the builders round, you agreed to pay the £xx per hour no matter how much they get done. They rock up to work, do a bit, then They ask you for your wireless password, boot up the laptop spend a bit of time on Facebook, do a bit more bricks, bit more Facebook etc .
You then pay them the same as if they hadn't been on Facebook for a couple of hours but a happy builder is a good on so I suppose it's better. They do this everyday, sometimes you pop out to see how it's going and 3 of the 5 builders are on Facebook and your extension is behind schedule.
How long before you ask them to stop?
If they don't stop how long before you switch the wireless off?
How long before you fire them?
Oh, and you as thier employer has a Facebook page and they advertise on Facebook so surely they should be allowed to use it?
What's Facebook? Is it like MySpace?
Coyote - MemberI'm still amazed that some companies waste their time policing what sites people visit - it's an overhead managing white lists etc and if the managers are not capable of managing people's time, you need new managers.
RachelRachel speaks a lot of sense here.
No she doesn't - there's little or no management overhead or time wasted in setting up a web filter, you pay someone else to do it. I used to work for a company that made them, from a company's point of view once the contract was signed we'd do all the dirty work.
(Personally I'm undecided as to whether a company should filter facebook / porn / STW or whatever, both sides of the argument have valid points.)
If we are busy pull your weight if we are quiet stretch your work - look busy .
When we are busy we are ****ing mental and usually working in shite holes so no one grudges a bit of down time during quiet times so long as you are not shirking your work or producing crap work or letting someone else be busy busy.
I'm still amazed that some companies waste their managers time policing what sites people visit - it's an IT issue managing white lists etc and if the IT Dept are not capable of blocking sites, you need a new IT Dept.
They do this everyday, sometimes you pop out to see how it's going and 3 of the 5 builders are on Facebook and your extension is behind schedule.How long before you ask them to stop?
And if the extension is ahead of schedule?
Northwind - Member<snip> It's just a new equivalent of nipping out for a fag or a coffee, or having a chat about the holidays.
Trouble is, the pi$$ takers do that as well.
No one objects to the odd 5 mins here and there. People being people forget that and it stretches until it impacts productivity. Hence the application of the heavy hand.
And if the extension is ahead of schedule?
Then they've over quoted the work so they can laze around at the companies expense.
Facebook is a load of bollox anyway.
Not if you've a mental age of 9 it isn't, it's more wonderful and necessary than oxygen.
No one objects to the odd 5 mins here and there.
Plenty of people do, it'd seem.
I've worked in environments where you've got to account for every last minute of your time and get a kicking if you stop to draw breath for a minute. It might please the pencil-pushers but it's counterproductive and leads to a massive staff turnover rate.
Facebook is a load of bollox anyway.
[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/03/facebook-value-50bn-goldman-sachs-investment ]A $50bn load of bollox.[/url]
Then they've over quoted the work so they can laze around at the companies expense.
Umm .. they provide a given service at a given price which you accepted.
Only a fool wouldn't agree a fixed rate with a builder. 😉So how would you feel if you had the builders round, you agreed to pay the £xx per hour no matter how much they get done.
If an employee gets their work done on time who cares what internets they look at. It comes back to a management issue and not assigning enough work to the individual.
+1Personally, I get more done in 55 minutes with a 5 minute break to mess about than I do in an hour... It's just a new equivalent of nipping out for a fag or a coffee, or having a chat about the holidays
What's Facebook?
Primarily, it's an approval-seeking mechanism for attention whores...
😈
Primarily, it's an approval-seeking mechanism for attention whores...
Or a handy way to share family photos and news with your parents when you and all your siblings live abroad?
Or a handy way to share family photos and news with your parents when you and all your siblings live abroad?
Ok. Who let the guy with the well reasoned argument in here?
Well?
Sorry 😳
Primarily, it's an approval-seeking mechanism for attention whores...
That sounds like the kind of comment from someone who'd say that talking aloud is attention-seeking 🙄
Umm .. they provide a given service at a given price which you accepted.
My imaginary contract must be different to yours then.
My imaginary contract must be different to yours then.
That's the problem with imaginary contracts - no f***ing consistency.
Or a handy way to share family photos and news with your parents when you and all your siblings live abroad?
Dammit. Stop showing up my irrational hatred of FaecesBook as idiotic.
My wife uses it obsessively - she's Brazilian, so uses it to keep in touch with all her family/friends back home.
Drives me nuts. Seems like she's checking for updates every 0.5 seconds.
If she were 9 this would be fine, but she's a grown woman so should use grown-up things like e-mail and skype.
That sounds like the kind of comment from someone who'd say that talking aloud is attention-seeking
Sometimes it is ...
she's a grown woman so should use grown-up things like e-mail and skype
.. and STW?
Sometimes it isn't 😉
.. and STW?
I haven't grown up
What's Facebook?
Primarily, it's an approval-seeking mechanism for attention whores...POSTED 3 HOURS
To be fair, it is a narcissist's dream. As is all social media.
But FB wouldn't be as popular among the masses if it didn't have a use for normal people too.
Sorry for the sensible comment. Sometimes I think I should be an accountant 😉
Girl at work posts everything on facebook, shit photo's from a night out in the local Yates's, update that she has just made a sandwich , update that her daughter just did her homework , photo's of what they had for tea, "ooooh look at me" photo's of their holiday.
One of the most boring f'kin people I have ever met when talking face to face.
Appreciate the people abroad argument but some people live out their (boring) life on facebook.
As for work, banned at ours along with access to red tops, any shopping sites , you tube etc. If you need access to a banned site IT will give it as long as reaon is valid. Wanting to see your mates night out in Yates's is unlikely to cut it though
My workplace has quite an enlightened attitude to Facebook. It's available from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, otherwise it's blocked. Most other sites, like STW are available all the time. I think they take the attitude that you abuse the privileges, they can find out and deal with you appropriately. In the meantime the vast majority of people who are sensible about interwebs usage are also happy.
I'm serving a 9 month written warning for a comment I put on FB whilst staying away in a hotel with my fellow sales colleagues, I used my own phone in my own time and merely commented on having a nice meal, a good laugh with my colleagues who were a good bunch.
Some jealous non dynamic sh*t stirring unambitious office mouth piece (via the help of an FB 'friend' :roll:) got wind of it, printed it off and shoved it under the nose of MD. I was roasted and went through a disciplinary and had the company's 'Internet acceptable use policy' shoved up my nose.
I sought legal advice from a well known employment lawyer who practically fell off his chair and his initial reaction was to tell them to go an eff off but in the interests of job preservation I took it on the chin, grovelled and let it run out of steam within a few days.
I think they allow internal people to view anything (but monitored) during lunch breaks) but if I had a company employing 300 people like I work for I'd ban it too. I would also wouldn't try and control what is said out of hours.
WTF? That's the most insane post I've read for ages.
You seriously need to get a job for a company that isn't run by total maniacs.
I like that I get on well enough with my Team leader that he sent me a friend request. I'm smart enough that I unfriended him stealthily shortly afterwards.
Social networking at work is a nice to have, like anything else, don't tear the backside out of it.
'Boss says no to facebook'
[url=
you sure?[/url]
[i]If you have a business of 7000 employees and your internet pipe "maxes out", I don't think you can describe is as "dirty great" by any stretch of the imagination...[/i]
Oh I'm sorry, you're right of course.
Just out of interest then, what would constitute a dirty great internet pipe, in your eyes? I'm just trying to understand what passes for serious connectivity in the world beyond me. Thanks.
Sorry - didn't think you'd take it personally, samuri - it's only an internet connection! 😉
And anyway, it's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it that counts. What I was trying to say is that something is wrong if you are having 4000 employees causing enough traffic to flow over a reasonable size connection to cause issues. Normally, an organisation of that size would use both caching and traffic shaping to make the most of what they have got. For example, our Cambridge connections to the internet are two peering connections that are only about 20Mb/s each but support all of over site to site and site to use VPN connections and 1000 employees browsing. I don't think we ever suffer from speed issues. I can usually download large files at around 4MB/s when required.
Hardly maxed out and very modest connections.
Rachel
[i]What I was trying to say is that something is wrong if you are having 4000 employees causing enough traffic to flow over a reasonable size connection to cause issues.[/i]
7000 employees and yes you're right. Something clearly is wrong, too many people are going on facebook. It's a 200Mb pipe by the way. We're in the process of upgrading to gig bearers because our business functions are impaired through dinner time. Obviously a significant amount is business traffic but that fact that very specific personal browsing impacts the business is exactly the point and it's why I get cross about it. A bit of personal browsing is fine, I do it myself but when we have to start spending a lot of money making sure we have enough bandwidth to cope with what is quite clearly non-business traffic then something has to be done and that means we have to start policing people's internet access.
I know lots of employees think people like me are just jobsworths or power mad as this thread shows but without the controls we put in place it would all go tits up and then everyone would be bitching about how crap the IT people are. I'd ban it myself but I don't set the policy on that particular subject unfortunately.
Now I'm rolling I'll also take issue with people who complain about website policing in general. Stop being so narrow minded and try to look at a bigger picture. You access a dodgy site from work, it could be terrorism, kiddie porn, whatever. The police are alerted and track it down to your company. Now what? Do we respond with 'aah we believe in freedom man', or does the MD go to prison? Not a hard choice is it?
This is a single example but I can prodcue lots more reasons why companies apply internet access controls. Some of you might not want to understand them but they're not there to spoil your fun, they're there to keep your business alive.
I actually use facebook for work, here is one of our foreign artist's page's [url=
Facebook[/url]
As you can imagine this can be extremely useful for our business.
I'm not sure how you can complain if the Boss ban's it, them's the rules!
I've implemented traffic shaping for Facebook for our company LAN. Was a fun project...
Send all FB traffic down our backup 2.5Mb ADSL line, everything else down our 6.5Mb SDSL pipe.
1. DNS requests *.facebook.com. (got a handful of other domains too)
2. DNS is resolved (either cached or externally).
3. Service monitoring mysql tables picks up IP..
3. IP is added to a routing table automagically if it does not exist already (most likely)
All it takes is one person about 2 mins usage to record all the IPs I need for a week.
Our internet usage policy suggests that any non work related surfing is not permitted, including sending personal emails. This isnt enforced, of course but we do get emails circulated from time to time to remind us that you can be disciplined for doing it.
and regarding posing what you had for lunch - suggest twitter (you can link it to facebook)
facebook, twitter, STW etc etc. All sites devoted to wasting mindless hours on the internet. and I do them all
Now I'm rolling I'll also take issue with people who complain about website policing in general. Stop being so narrow minded and try to look at a bigger picture. You access a dodgy site from work, it could be terrorism, kiddie porn, whatever. The police are alerted and track it down to your company. Now what? Do we respond with 'aah we believe in freedom man', or does the MD go to prison? Not a hard choice is it?
Surely all that need to happen is someone need to look at proxy/router/switch logs to see which ip the request came from and thus identify the relevant employee?
^^ Depends if they have logging enabled - it's another management headache.
^^^Or The Sun gets a lovely front-page article about a dodgy company where staff watch kiddie porn. At work no FB/STW/Twitter?BeBo etc.