Should you block Facebook at work?

VoucherMan

Ours blocks Facebook & sites like Youtube altogether 'as they use a lot of resources and slow down other users'.

Still allow Iplayer & streaming tv though...

814man

Interesting views here and I’d like to hear some others. This is an issue I am currently looking at as the IT Security Manager in a large public sector organisation. We currently block Facebook on technical grounds related to bandwidth etc but to be honest these are no longer an issue for us in IT. The other views about time wasted are a bit more complex to define. There are so many ways an employee could waste time that can we really say we need to block a specific site such as Facebook. Should we also ban newspapers from the workplace?

gaming_guy

....................

Beast

We're a huge organisation (>100,000 employees) and have a totally open policy on internet usage. Productivity is measured in the job getting done well, not in hours or minutes spent doing this task or that so if someone feels they need to take time out to chill on facebook, that's their personal call.

Badger_Lady

814man wrote: »

The other views about time wasted are a bit more complex to define. There are so many ways an employee could waste time that can we really say we need to block a specific site such as Facebook. Should we also ban newspapers from the workplace?

Absolutely... if someone wants to avoid work, they simply will - whether it's finding an allowed site and using that, extended cigarette breaks, chatting to colleagues...

And of course an awful lot of people now have internet access on the mobiles, which is slow and cumbersome but better than nothing. How many people do you think will use this to reply to a message / catch up on something, when they could have done it on their computer in a quarter of the time?

Playing games like Farmville is a step too far though, and staff would really be taking the mick doing that. I can't imagine that anyone would IF you've built up a trusting, accountable culture... but you'd want to know if it started.

johncalvin1

Its blocked in my office

Badger_Lady

Proof John! We've had Facebook blocked so we're spending time talking to strangers on here instead

johncalvin1

ha ha we need something

Beast

The issue goes way beyond a particular site or technology and into the culture of the organisation. If I had no facebook, no mobile, no general internet access and I found myself having a moment where I was completely unmotivated I'm pretty sure staring into space is the old fashioned way to do it.

serious_saver

I've worked in both types of office.

The first was a very large public sector organisation and anything that could be considered entertainment was blocked. I worked in communications and it was an absolute nightmare for me. My job would have been so much easier if I had access to some more comunication channels. I would walk around our large open plan office and people would be doodleing or browsing other sites . . . The BBC news site and Times Online seemed to be most popular.

Since then I have worked in two different offices where absolutely NOTHING is banned. The productivity in both were better than my earlier job. In a high pressure environment it's useful to have something to distract you between tasks and allow you to relax a bit. If you don't, the staff are stressed and projects get confused/wires crossed. One of my collegues used to spend a lot of time on facebook and internet dating sites but our boss didn't care as she clearly produced the best work in the team.