Time For IT Guys To Unshackle Corporate Computers

from the can't-do-that dept

This one ought to infuriate some of the IT folks, but Farhad Manjoo, over at Slate, is making the case for why corporate IT folks should give up trying to control everyone's computers. He says it's silly for them to dictate which apps you can and cannot use, what websites you can and cannot visit and what mobile devices you can and cannot use. He argues that doing so only restricts employees from actually doing useful and innovative stuff and also can make employees significantly less productive.

The response from IT folks will always be about the cost of maintaining all of this -- noting (perhaps correctly) that any time there are any problems, people will call up IT folks who will have to try to service all sorts of things, rather than having a standard list. And, of course, they'll say that users are often dumb, and prone to doing things that put computers and networks at risk. Thus, locking stuff down isn't only cost effective, but it's prudent to protect the company.

In the end, though, if that prevents important work from getting done (or done quickly), that seems like a problem. In the past, we've pointed out study after study after study suggesting that those who are actually allowed to do personal surfing at work are happier and more productive. Manjoo makes that point as well, mentioning recent studies that have shown the same thing and suggesting that companies that trust their workers on these sorts of things tend to get much more out of those employees.

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Younger Employees Teaching Companies That Personal Surfing Isn't Evil

from the about-time dept

For years we've pointed out how silly it is for companies to use filters and other tools to try (and fail) to block "personal surfing" at work. It's based on the faulty notion that every second you're at work should be focused on work. But offices provide water coolers for a reason, and people take breaks for a reason. Nearly a decade ago, studies started showing that allowing personal surfing at work made employees happier and more productive. A couple years after that a study showed that thanks to modern connectivity at home, those who did personal surfing at work more than made up for it by working at home. And, just a couple months ago a study showed that those who access social networking sites at work tend to be more productive.

It's not hard to figure out why, really. First, allowing for a good balance between the two allows workers to take short mental breaks which allows them to be more fully focused on work when needed. On top of that, they don't have to worry about personal things while at work, but can take care of issues quickly and easily. Finally, and most importantly, many start using social networking and other online tools to help them work. After all, despite what naysayers say, these tools can be very useful in many different jobs.

And yet, more and more companies keep installing filters and trying to block out personal surfing at work, insisting that it must be a bad thing. But it appears that as a younger generation who grew up on this stuff enters the workforce, they're starting to convince companies to change their ways. Younger employees who have to battle internet filters, and even start working from the local coffee shop to avoid corporate filters, and teaching companies that blocking access to useful tools doesn't help things. And, yes, there will always be some people who abuse it, and workplaces can monitor for that. But they can do so by seeing who is not getting their work done, rather than by simply blocking all access to anyone. In the early days of the telephone, some offices banned them, fearing that they would be used for frivolous purposes, rather than work. These days, that's silly. In the future, the idea that we should ban all social networking sites will be seen as equally silly.

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Those Who Surf Facebook And YouTube At Work Are Often More Productive

from the this-again? dept

Way back in the late 90s, there was a spate of news stories worried about this awful web thing and how companies were making it available at work -- and how that was obviously going to be a massive drain on productivity. Of course, this was falsely based on the idea that productivity means always working, rather than getting work done. All the way back in 2000, a study came out, noting that employees who did some personal surfing at work tended to be happier and more productive. There were a variety of reasons for this, including that being able to do some personal surfing allowed for useful "mental breaks" that made actual working time more productive. It also let people spend more time on the job (and, in fact, another study found that most employees who do personal surfing at work more than make it up) rather than having to leave work to deal with personal things.

Since all those studies came out in the earlier part of the decade, we had hoped that these issues had been put to rest. But... no, of course not. With new online services like Facebook and YouTube, suddenly companies started freaking out again -- with hyped up claims from internet filtering companies (it always comes from internet filtering companies) about just how much productivity is lost via Facebook and YouTube. And, of course, they have a simple solution: buy our filter and block access to these sites.

And the fear mongering certainly works. Every time we mention any such story, we're inundated with comments from people insisting that there is simply no reason why anyone should ever access Facebook from work. Well, yet another study suggests that's incorrect again. As with the earlier studies, this one found that people who do a little personal surfing of sites like Facebook and YouTube at work, tend to be more productive.

The study found exactly what previous studies had found:

People who do surf the internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office - are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't.... People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture - after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored.

It's the same in the workplace.

Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a day's work, and as a result, increased productivity.

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72.8 Percent Of All Statistics Are Made Up -- Or Maybe Twice That When It Comes To Facebook Blocking

from the this-again? dept

Another "web security firm" (I'm not going to give them undeserved publicity by naming them but you can click the link if you care) is getting some easy publicity by announcing the results of a survey finding that half of their customers block MySpace or Facebook surfing at work. That's not too surprising, since this was a survey of the customers of a company that sells blocking software. We covered a similar publicity stunt back in August (and indeed we've been debunking these stories for years). That study found that 43 percent of workers are blocked from accessing Facebook at work. But the latest study finds that only 25.6 percent of the firm's customers block Facebook. There are a couple of ways we might interpret this data. One is that Facebook blocking is actually falling, and that we can extrapolate no Facebook blocking at all sometime next May! The more likely explanation, though, is that these numbers are totally meaningless and self-serving. Of course, these stories inevitably go on to quote a company executive about how personal surfing at work is a "growing concern." In the latest story, the company predicts that two-thirds of companies would be filtering by next year. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the company is selling the software companies would need to do that filtering.

Timothy Lee is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Timothy Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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Fired For Using eBay At Work

from the did-they-at-least-buy-anything-good? dept

There have been a bunch of bogus stories over the years (usually placed by companies that sell internet filters) about the productivity losses of personal surfing at work. However, other studies have shown that personal surfing tends not to be a problem for most people. It helps ease the work-life balance that has all too often created a situation where "work" interrupts "life." Thus, it seems only fair for "life" to occasionally show up at "work." In fact, one study showed that people who do personal surfing at work tend to make it up either by being more productive or putting in extra work time from home. The key, really, is to look at whether or not the person is getting their job done. If they're able to get the job done, then does it really matter if they spend some excess time surfing?

Over in the UK, there's a story about nine office workers who were fired after it was discovered that they had spent up to two hours a day on eBay. That seems like quite a bit (though the "up to" part can be misleading). However, some questions aren't answered. For example, there's no indication as to whether or not it impacted their job performance. It's also not clear from the report if these workers were exclusively using eBay or just had the window open while doing other things. Right this second, I have about eight or nine browser windows open. Most are work related, but a few are not -- but if I leave the window with the latest baseball scores open all day, it doesn't mean I only was checking baseball scores all day. The employees apparently are represented by a union -- but rather than arguing the points I've mentioned here, they're actually arguing that it's (get this) the employer's fault for putting temptation in the way of these workers and not filtering out eBay. That seems ridiculous and hopefully doesn't get any support at all.

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Some Reasonable Advice On Facebook At Work From British Trade Unions

from the ain't-so-bad dept

We've seen a bunch of ridiculous reports lately blaming Facebook for lost productivity and saying that nearly half of all companies now ban Facebook at work. Those studies were both biased and misleading -- often coming from companies that were trying to sell filtering solutions to companies. Over in the UK, however, it's nice to see the Trades Union Congress (TUC) there say that banning Facebook at work is going too far and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, the group recommended that companies come up with some straightforward usage policies. All in all, the group's comments seem quite reasonable, noting that there are benefits to these services and banning them outright is simply an overreaction. The report also notes that banning sites like Facebook won't stop employees from slacking off at times and it probably won't even stop them from figuring out ways to get to Facebook. Instead, it makes more sense to focus on encouraging them to use social networking sites in a reasonable way and then just focusing on whether or not the employees are actually getting their jobs done.

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Latest Bogus Report Blames Facebook For Productivity Loss

from the yeah,-try-again dept

We've pointed out in the past how often we see totally bogus reports about productivity losses due to "personal surfing" at work. These reports are always based on research done by companies that sell internet filters, and yet the press almost never bothers to point out this fairly obvious conflict of interest. The latest twist on all of this is for one internet filtering company (who shall remain nameless, since they don't deserve free advertising for pulling this stunt) to now tie productivity losses to Facebook. All the filter company does is estimate how much time people spend on Facebook, and then claim that all that time is lost productivity. Of course, this ignores all of the real evidence from actual studies that show things like people who spend time personal surfing at work usually more than make it up either by being more productive when they're working, or by working from home at other times. Then there was the study that showed that those who do some personal surfing at work tend to see "better time management, stress reduction, improvement of skill sets and helping to achieve a balance between work and personal life." We wouldn't want to encourage that at all among employees, now would we? Since these filtering firms just won't stop these bogus studies, does someone want to calculate just how much money has been wasted by these firms performing such ridiculous studies?

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