Facebook - while at work

queen

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 11:16 am

I'd like to hear what happens in other work environments - Does your boss/company allow you to have FB open on your smart phone while you work?

I have an employee who has her iPone next to her computer and she will read/post on FB during work hours. Some days are more than others however I'd like to request that FB is closed during work hours and therefore want to hear what is "acceptable" in the work forces at large.

I appreciate your taking the time to respond.

poll added

saw50st8

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 12:08 pm

Is it affecting her work performance?

My company allows moderate internet usage while on the job.

If its affecting her, then talk to her about it.

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 6:02 pm

It's definitely not acceptable in my office. People do during lunch break but not during working hours. Firstly I work in an open office so it's rather embarassing as whoever passing behind you can see what screens are open.

queen

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 9:38 pm

She views FB with her iPhone, it's not on her computer screen.
I have got to believe that it breaks her train of concentration when she is busy with FB, irrelevent of her pretty much keeping up with pumping out the work as needed.

I'd like to still hear from more ladies to try and guage whether it's a 50/50 of those allowed to be busy with it during work hours or if it's really not acceptable.

I've got to figure out how to make a poll on here!!!!

chocolate moose

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 9:39 pm

I guess if the boss felt strongly about it, he'd use a cell phone blocker/jammer, right?

ROFL

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 10:21 pm

My pet peeve ! I hate it when folks use Facebook during work hours. It is so stupid of them to be friends with me and then post about what they need in FarmVille or how many points they got playing bubble game ( or whatever stupidity they are doing) I don't mind if all they do is post a line or two but when I see they are playing games it drives me nuts.
There was one person who was fired because of Facebook AND because her work was not done. If your work is done , nobody bothers people about their computer usage. Unfortunately, I don't think people are giving it their all, and I am sure they can be more productive if they paid attention to work.

amother

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 10:26 pm

It for sure takes away concentration.. while working and having FB account open, your mind is not fully focused on the work, but rather wants to go to the fun part.. work is for sure delayed..

perquacky

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 10:31 pm

I've worked with people who seem to have FB on their screens all day long, and who quickly try to click off when they sense someone coming by. I think that's worse then spending a few minutes during the day on FB. Or do it during your lunch break.

I admit that when there's a lull in my work, I occasionally log on, but it's brief, and I never post during the day. And if an email comes through, I get a pop-up so I can quickly get back to work. When you're on your phone, you're completely ignoring your computer and are totally focused on FB. Bad, bad, bad.

notshanarishona

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 12:00 am

Depends on the job. Almost all of my bosses have understood that occasionally workers need a 2 minute refresher break to chill . If a boss was makpid I wouldn't do it.

sunflower_seed

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 2:34 am

op if you are machmir and you are paying her then you decide. yes it does affect concentration (at least it did by me when I used to check emails while at work. ) my employer is not machmir but I try not to do anyway bec it affects my work performance

anotherima

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 6:14 am

I had this with my cleaning lady, she was addicted to texting on her phone, where she went her phone went to every room and she kept running to her phone to read texts and answer.
I have had her for a long time and she likes to work here so it was hard for me to tell her to knock it off with the texting because you aren't getting your work done!
Finally I asked a friend who speaks spanish to talk to her about it and my cleaning lady doesn't do it anymore.

amother

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 7:58 am

I'm one of those employees that has FB open on my smartphone. Our office is usually quite since my boss doesn't like when we talk to each other. Checking out FB or other sites give me a boost to continue working. When there is tons of work to do then I usually don't check FB while working. And yes I get my work done.
Their are times my boss sees me holding my smartphone & he never said anything to me.
I'm just praying that he won't.

watergirl

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 8:25 am

My boss says no internet/fb/cell phone calls at work. She is paying me and its her right.

Also in terms of productivity, stopping every 15 seconds (or less often) is stopping, any way you shake it. Its stealing time from your boss.

smss

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 8:37 am

not many people (if any..I'm not sure) have an iphone where I work, but in general the rule is that if there is no work for you to do you can do whatever you want as long as you're at your desk and available. necessary phone calls under 2 minutes are allowed. otherwise, you're being paid to work.....

suzyq

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 9:42 am

As long as you get your work done in my office, it's not a problem. If it was keeping someone from doing their work, then it would be dealt with. Just a question though, how often do you have imamother open when you're at work? Wink

queen

Wed, Apr 24 2013, 7:45 pm

Going forward I'd make that a rule from day 1 - No FB during work hours.
She's been working for me quite a while, so harder to now make new rule that no FB. Sad

chocolate chips

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 1:56 pm

So long as she is reaching the quota of work expected and doing a good job of it, I don't think a peek at facebook 6 times a day is wrong.

At my work we have internet filter (and I don't have facebook on my phone) but I can check other open sites if I want to, so long as I get the work that needs to be done, done correctly and on time.

I did have one job where it was dead quiet, I had nothing to do all day and my boss saw me playing minesweeper and told me he prefers I don't play games or anything! I left about a week after that, the extreme boredom was making me mentally ill!

Tova

Thu, Apr 25 2013, 2:04 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Depends on the job. Almost all of my bosses have understood that occasionally workers need a 2 minute refresher break to chill . If a boss was makpid I wouldn't do it.

This is basically how it is by me - we are professionals and treated as such so we are not micromanaged. Reasonable personal use of phone-internet-copier is allowable as long as it doesn't interfere with work duties. If it's getting to the point that you, queen, as a boss notice it, I think you should send out a "policy" memo regarding change in internet policy. [Is she your only employee? That could complicate things.]

queen

Mon, Apr 29 2013, 11:23 pm

From the 8 people who responded to the poll it seems like 75% of work force allows FB while on the job.
That is actually quite enlightening and I'd appreciate more people weighing in with their vote.

amother

Tue, Apr 30 2013, 10:53 am

we are not allowed to use the office's internet to go to non-work related sites during work hours.

however they never said anything about phones. I did vote no.