Social networking sites cost UK economy up to £14bn pa

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm afraid I am from the "You go to work, to WORK" generation and attitude. Today's workplace is more like a social club in a lot of instances - and I really hate being in that environment, with the buzz of people's phones and them checking their texts and laughing, then passing things round. Really p1sses me off. WORK D4MN YOU ALL. WORK!!

Interesting point Pastures. Its not just a generational point, but one I hear made about the UK when looking at workers in a global context. IIRC Bendix made a similar point elsewhere - that workers from other countries work harder.

I wonder what a global economy will make the workplace look like 20 years from now and whether companies will so readily turn a blind eye. It may well be that we turn out to be the lucky generations: between the ones that went down the coal mines and the ones whose every keystroke and toilet break are monitored in the name of productivity.

PasturesNew

For me, the biggest noticeable difference in companies over the past 10 years has been the number of people who work part-time - and how that impacts on getting business done.

I'm tired of trying to get work done, only to contact people to be told "oh they leave at 3", or "they only work Tue-Thu". That's no good. That's holding things up in my opinion. OK, have people that work part-time, but not roles. Other people should be able to do the job when the part-timers aren't around.

It's everywhere now - and you used to very very very rarely encounter it.

If I am on a project and need some figures/data/feedback, I need it now, or at least need to speak to the person to find out when/why it's impossible. To have to wait until they're in (if I can get hold of them then), is just not good working practice.

I think most of my time in the work place is wasted on trying to contact part-timers on multiple occasions.

purplerose

Even if they banned social networking sites people would still find ways to waste time, most were already rather good at it before the internet came about anyway. The last few offices I temped in I was amazed how little work got done and the internet was banned in them.

I worked with one woman who would walk in the door about 2 mins to 9, hang up her coat then head off to the bathroom to sort her hair, on her way back she'd spend time chatting to folk at desks on the way back to her own. She'd then turn on her PC and talk to folk in the team whilst waiting for it to start, it would turn on and she'd get up to go to the loo, she'd return, put on hand cream, chat whilst waiting on that drying in and then put her password into the computer. The computers took about 5 minutes to load up so she'd go chat to the manager for 10 minutes then come back to her desk, open up all the software programs and chat away to the team. Finally around 9.45 or 10 she'd go lift a stack of work and then mess around for 10 minutes getting pens/ink/staplers out of her drawer, do 1 bit of work and then announce "ooh it's nearly half 10, shall I go get the teams tea?". She'd take in all the tea orders then go get it and after all her messing about with tea, handing it out, drinking it, toilet trips, chats and more hand cream, she'd do one other bit of work and then it was lunch time and more of the same in the afternoon. I think she managed to get through about 5-10 bits of work in a day whereas I got through about 40-50. She got away with it because she was so friendly and talked about all the work she was doing often enough that it seemed like she was doing a lot more. When I was about to leave the job there was even talk of her possibly being made team supervisor despite her doing this every single day!

So aye, if folk want to waste time at work, they'll manage it social networks being available or not.

Running_Horse

According to IT there are always a couple of dozen work computers logged on to Facebook at any one time during days. Time and money lost? Well, the work required seems to get done, and management are fully aware of it.

puddy

I worked with one woman who would walk in the door about 2 mins to 9, hang up her coat then head off to the bathroom to sort her hair, on her way back she'd spend time chatting to folk at desks on the way back to her own. She'd then turn on her PC and talk to folk in the team whilst waiting for it to start, it would turn on and she'd get up to go to the loo, she'd return, put on hand cream, chat whilst waiting on that drying in and then put her password into the computer. The computers took about 5 minutes to load up so she'd go chat to the manager for 10 minutes then come back to her desk, open up all the software programs and chat away to the team. Finally around 9.45 or 10 she'd go lift a stack of work and then mess around for 10 minutes getting pens/ink/staplers out of her drawer, do 1 bit of work and then announce "ooh it's nearly half 10, shall I go get the teams tea?". She'd take in all the tea orders then go get it and after all her messing about with tea, handing it out, drinking it, toilet trips, chats and more hand cream, she'd do one other bit of work and then it was lunch time and more of the same in the afternoon. I think she managed to get through about 5-10 bits of work in a day whereas I got through about 40-50. She got away with it because she was so friendly and talked about all the work she was doing often enough that it seemed like she was doing a lot more. When I was about to leave the job there was even talk of her possibly being made team supervisor despite her doing this every single day!

i didnt know you'd ever worked with me...

well, i have a different view of work, i work to live, i dont live to work and as far as im concerne as long as i get my work done in the hours i have, then its up to me to give myself little breaks etc

what always irked me about team work (im now self employed) is that as im not a smoker, i never got cigarette breaks, so if i was seen on the internet or whatever, i might have been told about it a few times, but someone going off for 20 fags a day wouldnt have been, so unfair. i dont know what its like in the work place now

worldtraveller

I work in a sales environment. If anyone even thought that they could spend any time, whatsoever, on social networking sites, or taking personal calls, unless urgent, in company time, they would be out! Rightly so!

IMHO we are seeing a complete change in the whole business environment. The so called "boom", of the last 10 years or so, has seen a very lax attitude in business towards employee time, allowing very lax attitudes in the workplace environment.

IMHO people need to now get into, and accept, the new "real world" environment. It doesn't allow you to do what you have largely been used to in recent years.

StevieJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

Easy for me. Social networking sites banned where I work. If you see me logged on in the week it either means I'm on a break or not working that day.

How does the system know you are on a break?

StevieJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd NEVER use a company's Internet connection to idly browse the Internet, chat, connect or otherwise. I come from a generation where you weren't even allowed to receive an incoming phone call in a job. If you were at work and a personal phone call came in it was dire! You knew you were in trouble and your boss would call you into the office to explain it is company policy that employees do not make or receive personal phone calls during work time.
!

Don't think so, I think it was just where you worked, I get the impression that you have only worked in small places.

worldtraveller

Running_Horse wrote: »

According to IT there are always a couple of dozen work computers logged on to Facebook at any one time during days. Time and money lost? Well, the work required seems to get done, and management are fully aware of it.

Maybe it could be done in less time, with less staff, saving your company money, if staff are not allowed to log on to social networking sites on company time?

vivatifosi

StevieJ wrote: »

How does the system know you are on a break?

I can't log on using a work pc, break or otherwise. But in my break, I can access my little netbook (on longer breaks such as lunchtime) and log on via wireless network. Most of the time I'm on here though, I'm at home.