Tuesday, June 29, 2004

The Internet at Work

My company's official policy on internet and email usage is "work-related" only. The moral dilemma is this -- if I spend five minutes to post to my blog, am I committing as horrendous a sin as my co-worker who spends anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes talking baseball or football or the level of intoxication reached last night? I am of the opinion that a tracking device should be installed to check how long conversations of this sort last. If they monitor what websites I go to, shouldn't conversations be tracked as well? Productivity would go through the roof.

3 comments:

Prahagirl said...

The answer to your question is simple. HELL YES! When I did have "office" jobs where there was access to internet, we had the same rule. "Work-related" only. I began watching my boss and how long she would talk about "non-related work" topics with other employees and then I would use that much time online. Of course, I was found out and questioned. My reply was, "If Rita can spend 30 minutes of work time dicussing the ever-so important rituals of leg waxing, then I can spend 30 minutes reading email and the day's news online." (teehee!)

Needless to say, the began to crack down on the "chatters."

Stacie Penney said...

I almost wish I would get a warning so I could do the very thing you did...it will definitely be the option I exploit if the situation should arise.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more! I work with a bunch of addicted on-line gamers who spend more time clicking on dots to make pyramids to win games than actually helping patients! Of course, I am guilty of the extra use of the net, but only for email and reading the paper during a break. It's great to see that you have a venue to post your thoughts and I've enjoyed reading them! Tensie