Don't Let Your Boss Catch You Reading This 368
Stony Stevenson writes "iTnews is running a piece on the culture of cyberslacking in the business arena. Studies worldwide suggest employees spend about a fifth of their work shifts engaging in personal activities. Most of that 'wasted time' is, of course, spent online. From the article: 'A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work. About 34 percent listed personal Internet use as the leading time-wasting activity in the workplace. Employees said they did so because they were bored, worked too many hours, were underpaid or were unchallenged at work. Firms all over the world are concerned about potentially harmful effects of surfing they deem to be inappropriate may have on their company's image.'"
Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Insightful)
In the second place, I work practically everywhere these days because of the Internet. I work at home, in the airport, in restaurants, in the car, etc. So counting all these other working locations, my productivity is significantly better than it was 20 years ago.
In the third place, people aren't machines. People are more productive, and more creative, if they take a mental break now and then. And people make better business decisions if they stay current with social trends and events. It's not a time waster, it's a cost of doing business.
Nuff said. Now quit bothering me, I really need to get back to work before my boss comes in.
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Interesting)
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".as long as you aren't looking at "innappropriate material" (porn and such) "
[X] My job requires me to look at internet porn, you ignorant clod! ... what is this "and such" you're talking about?
[X] In Soviet Amerika, pr0n looks at YOU!
[X]
Its funny, we don't allow nude bodies, but we allow depictions of people being decapitated, etc.
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:4, Interesting)
It sounds assbackwords, I know, but in doing it this way people are EXTREMELY proficient at what they do...our revenues are massive, and our clients are always happy...not to mention you never get someone who is "luke warm" about their job...if you don't like what you are doing, you are simply moved to another role.
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Funny)
I understand the words individually, but I simply cannot sensibly parse the phrase as a whole...
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously he works for Microsoft, quietly destroying other peoples patents and valuable property, all the while sucking on candy as any good evil mastermind should.
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:4, Insightful)
But done in a fair minded way, it can definitely encourage efficiency gains. And in general if there is that much extra time being spent, it would make sense to just hand out some sort of bonus and give the worker(s) a bit more work to fill out most of the extra time.
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Your employer rewarded you by having you come in early and you did so in spite of then being given extra work?
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Actually there are various studies that indicate that people that work 32 hours normally are more productive than those that work 40.
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I'd like to see the work week shortened, as a benefit of the much vaunted increase in productivity that technology has afforded us, but we'd have to accept some changes that might prove unpopular, including higher prices for services from businesses that would need to hire additional help.
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They may pay you to do X, but there is plenty of other stuff to do when you can't concentrate on X for another second without going berzerk...Or if there isn't
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I feel that the fact that most people waste 1/5 of their time on the internet may be a good indication that work weeks are 1/5th too long. In fact, if I could find a job where I would only work 4 days a week, I would probably be as if not more productive than now that I work 5 days a week. This is a case where corporations should revisit their policies instead of the other way around.
But the 4 day work week would mean that one would waste 1/4 of his work time. Oh wait, I was never good at fractions.
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Save the trees (Score:2, Funny)
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But at the cost of how many trees a day? Sure, we may save the paper, but how many more do we eat for energy (to feed the datacenters, etc.), buildings (commercial & residential), roads (to get to those new buildings), etc as a result of the network infrastructure & maintenance that is now required?
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:5, Insightful)
I definitely agree with the spirit of your post. People waste time at work? So what?
You ask people to spend the majority of their waking life, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 hours a day 5 days a week, in a little cubical, and you're surprised that they aren't hard at work for that entire time? They're people. They should be able to occasionally talk to people and read things that interest them.
It'd be a problem if you were only asking people to work 5 hours a day, 4 days a week, and people were wasting time on the job. I've had too many jobs, though, where there simply isn't more than 6 hours of work each day, but i had to be there for 10 hours. And those 6 hours of work were stressful, and the breaks kept me from snapping someone's neck.
Also, there's a question in my mind about what constitutes "wasting time". I work in IT. Is it a wast of my time to read Slashdot? Sometimes. But sometimes it's very informative. I've learned a lot from my web browsing while "wasting time", and a lot of that knowledge has benefitted my employers. I also used to "waste" a lot of time screwing around with various hardware/software products, which also lead to increasing my knowledge.
Being "productive" 24/7 just shouldn't be anyone's goal. A little experimentation/exploration/contemplation is useful.
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It's part of time management -- both on the parts of the worker and the manager.
I have a co-worker who constantly complains she's busy but spends a good portion of her day talking to other co-wo
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Good point. A good manager will find work for his/her employees, will help motivate people, and will monitor people to make sure they're doing the expected work. However, I think that a good manager will also expect that no one is going to work 8 straight hours each and every day. It's not even all that healthy for people when you can get them to do it.
In fact, I think that 1/5 of an 8 hour work day (about an hour and a half) is pretty close to the right amount of "wasting time". I might drop it down t
Yep .. glad they modded you up! (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a little ironic that most employers have programs where they'll pay a chunk of your tuition to go back to college and take additional courses, and others gladly spend an annual budget on "training", sending you all over the country to seminars and training courses. Yet the self-motivated employee who surfs the net each day to learn more about trends in his/her field, to ke
Re:Hold on there, junior... (Score:4, Insightful)
Course it would depend entirely on the type of work ones site is doing as to whether such morale boosts would actually add value, but it doesnt change the fact that in many situations this can be a very good thing.
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I am opposed to this, of course, not just for the reasons you outlined, but that it seems like the decision happened for another reason: the "cover our asses" legal argument. I don't really see the rationale here, since anyone can sue anyone for anything. So
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Smokers, they take a typical 10-15 minute break every 1 to two hours. some of the biggest abusers take 20 minute smoke breaks. actual break time is typically far longer as they mosey on out and may stop to talk to someone to ask if they want to take a smoke break, then mosey on in.
These can easily turn into multiple 30 minute breaks during the day. Yet they ignore that but talk about how the internet is BAAAAAD and sucks up productivity.
Internet abuse is one of the smallest
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I don't waste time at work! (Score:5, Funny)
Just a sec, I see someone in my monitor mirror *alt-tabs to Eclipse*
Okay, I'm back, just started a 6000 test JUnit test suite so if anyone wonders if I'm being productive, I can point to the green status bar slowly approaching 100%...
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As an employer, I ask: who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
I also pay my employees differently than most consulting firms. We pay close to minimum wage, plus a very large bonus on each project. I've never had anyone quit, and I've never had anyone complain about their monthly paychecks. By offering a large portion of a project's profits, I know my employees won't waste my money (in salary), won't have to lie on their time sheets, and they'll do the best job they can do because they won't want to go and finish a punch list without pay or handle warranty work at a low rate. It is win-win, and a big reason why I'd prefer full 1099's than W2's if the IRS didn't prevent us from working that way.
When you're salaried or on wages, the employer has to focus a lot more on containing the employee and sending them in the proper direction, constantly. We have zero managers at my company, just consultants. It works fine. Our customers love us because we're 40% cheaper than others in the industry but we excel at handling their needs.
So this all lets me "not care" if an employee decides to spend all day long on the web, and only 1 hour on a project. If the customer is happy, and the work is good, and they do it quickly and correctly, they'll make a killing on the profit sharing, and they'll have a ton of free time to kill at the office if they want to be there. Our top employee works 2 days a week, I think, and earns a very respectable income. He can now spend 3 days at the office playing some MMOG, or go home and sleep. I could care less, the customers are happy.
No, we're not hiring.
Now look, someone "got" it. (Score:2)
My focus is to get the job done. Not spend the 38.5 hours in the office. If a problem exists that needs a solution NOW, I solve it. Now. There's a good reason why I recreated my complete office PC at home (as far as company policy allowed, of course).
Still, I'm currently in trouble for not spending enough time on my desk. Was there a problem with a project? No. Did my work suffer in any way? By far not, I'm the most productive analyst in the company. What's the problem? That that slacker ass
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a) have realistic project plans.
b) don't pull people off their projects randomly to (hopefully) save other projects that seem to be failing.
In other words, if your employees actually have a good chance of succeding with their projects if they have the skills and put in the effort. Unfortunately, project planning at my current employer is inadequate for that, so your method might not work for us.
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Re:As a lawyer, I ask: what me, worry? (Score:5, Interesting)
Bingo. There are two skills spheres I have always been concerned with in my entire business life (I started a successful BBS at the age of 13 with this same mindset):
1. Those who are risk takers and are able to penetrate a market or a project early. These folks are not the most responsible in the long term (that's me).
2. Those who are responsible and are able to carry projects through to completion. These folks are not risk takers (not me).
A successful business needs a combination of both. The consultants who work with me are usually type 2, in fact I have never met a type 1 individual who competes on my level. This isn't egotistic, it is just a fact since I've been looking for a replacement for years.
Herding the cats is exactly what I do. There are 1000 projects in our markets (primarily Midwest US, Southwest US, Poland and India) that I can't reach because I can't find a way to do them more efficiently. Yet when I know what my consultants CAN do, and what they HAVE done, and what they WANT to do, I can jump into a bid or a decision process and sell our talents and come in well under budget. Most of the type 2 people I know won't take the risk of NOT having work or the risk of collections or the risk of keeping customers as contracts in the future. I'm the king of expensive dinners, bid submittals, comparison summaries and collections. I even use factoring companies when necessary to keep the cash coming in, even at a 5-11% hit. Most consultants are good at doing their job and scheduling their responsibilities, where I am not, so we work very well together. If I could find another 2-3 guys like me (type 1), we could probably take on 600% more work, but it is difficult to assess someone's abilities in the grayer business actions that I perform versus what an actual consultant does.
What it all boils down to is that I don't see the point of earning 6-10x what my average consultant earns. In most years, I am the BOTTOM of the income chart at my own company, but I also like to keep capital within the company as much as possible. Happy employees = future stability. People don't quit if they feel like they are earning slightly more than they are worth, but they'll quit if they smell the potential of earning more elsewhere.
Re:As a lawyer, I ask: what me, worry? (Score:4, Informative)
1/5th of the time wasted? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:1/5th of the time wasted? (Score:5, Insightful)
In the beginning I asked for more work every day and would either get a be patient or crap work (please proof read this, wtf). Then I only asked twice a week, same answer, same grunt work. Example please make sure 5 people review a manual and give feedback. Glad I got my masters for this
Now I don't care. I don't ask. I surf 7 hours a day (Slashdot, news, stocks, LinkedIn, etc) and look for jobs during the day. My boss does comment the work I do is outstanding so when I have work I do it well.
Do I feel bad? Not one bit. I turned down another gig for this one and then got screwed here. So the 7 hours a day they pay me to surf is the opportunity cost to me for having accepted this job.
How come they never do a study showing how a boss or company wastes the employees time?
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I've been in my new position (under different management) for almost a year now. It was a great change. Update your resume and get looking! A better position is waiting for you!
Solitaire (Score:5, Funny)
What's else to expect? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I work at a place that actually understands this, and love it. We do agile dev, and 4 "hours" is the daily level.
I don't think I've ever worked in a better environment, and to be honest, I probably get *more* done in an average day than at any other place I've ever worked.
Obviously this doesn't mean that on some days I don't code for more than 4 hours, or don't work at home sometimes when things need to get done, etc. That just comes with the territory. But it's the environment where I don't have someone s
Agile != 4 hours work / day (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think you understand agile or the 4 hours of daily work. It does not mean you only work 4 hours a day, it means that you only get 4 hours of *scheduled* work done per day. The other 4 hours reflect business related interruptions, unanticipated/unscheduled work, etc. Agile still expect you to be doing work for the company for 8 hours.
if your projects are getting done, they don't rea
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This is something that is pretty well understood in jobs that are creative like programming or writing. You simply cannot be creative all the time. When something grabs you, and you're inspired by it, you might go all night without sleep in order to keep working on it. At other times, things are flat. You might force yourself to hammer out 2 or 3 hours worth of material, but it's not great output even then.
After being in that kind of business for a number of years, you learn to find a way to become moderat
Re:What's else to expect? (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of this job is research and "surfing" and "slacking" aren't the same thing. If I'm reading about a development platform that has potential, but has nothing to do with my current work, am I slacking? I don't think so. It's an investment in myself, and in turn my employer, for me to be a better developer across the board. You never know where you'll find a great idea that will change it all.
And then there is the recovery of a mind that's been stressed. Would a person take a break after a test? I would put forward that programming can be this intense sometimes. You haven't done anything physical but you feel spent when finished.
Very few programmers have longevity in the industry (beyond 10-15 years) because of the high stress level. Managers should be doing more to relieve this stress and keep their investments around. I never understood why computing throws away wisdom so easily, instead using green-horns who will work their brains fried just to impress the boss man. It may work in the near term, but long term it's detrimental.
Company Image (Score:3, Insightful)
If I look like I'm working, logicly, the company must also look like it's doing good, right ?
Easy solution! Or is it? (Score:5, Informative)
Problem solved, says management, who are not subject to the filter!
Of course all the employees resent being treated like children, and it's created a tremendous amount of ill will toward management, and people gripe about it all the time. At least one good employee switched companies because of the restrictive policy. But hey, at least they aren't wasting time on the 'net!
Re:Easy solution! Or is it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Our old IT manager wanted his surfing taken out of the firewall logs so I happy obeyed.
Last year we get a call from our ISP that SPAM is coming from our site. I searched the logs to no avail, we found the PC doing the most surfing and my boss accused them of doing it on purpose. In the meantime, I kept looking at current packets going out....you've guessed it by now....the IT manager had the spam producer on his PC. He never noticed his anti-spyware/virus was out of date.
Lucky for me, I had in writing, his policy of exempting himself so it wasn't my problem.
Always get this weird stuff from your boss in writing because it will always come back to get you if you don't.
If management had to obey the rules of the lowly workers, the Internet would be free for all to use (as it is at my company now).
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I work for the government (state) and we use a proxy and filtering software. When the software was implemented, one person was (and maybe still is) logged trying to find ways to get to sites with the word 'ass' in them. You name it, he tried to get to it.
Go to the site directly? Yup. Didn't work. Go to Google then the site? Yup. Didn't work. Go to another site which somehow linked to the site. Yup. Didn't work. Tr
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Re:Easy solution! Or is it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's face it. People are not going to be 100% productive 100% of the time while they are at work. As other posters have noted, there are different dynamics depending on the type of job, but I won't go so far as to suggesting that similar slacking does not exist for those in the lower-end wage brackets. The biggest way slacking occurs there is through productivity slowdowns.
Sure, it might only take an enthusiastic new employee 15 minutes to clean the breakroom, but it becomes clear very quickly that doing so makes the rest of the employees look bad, since they are allocated 30 minutes to do the job. I knew a guy who went to work (with his buddy) at a silo manufacturing facility many years ago. They got the hang of it soon enough and were soon completing nearly two structures a night. The pace was fair, and they were able to hold some great discussions while they were working. After a couple of weeks, they wondered how many silos they could make if they shut up and focused on the work. First night that way, they made five. The next night, they made seven. After about a week like that, the union steward showed up and told my friend and his buddy that, "it is physically impossible to build more than 2.5 silos per night." Excitedly, they told him what they did, but the guy just repeated his line. For the rest of the summer, they built 2.5 silos a night. Neither opted for full time jobs with that place.
It's not a union thing--it's an establishment thing. Once people have an accepted "norm" for how something is done, it's hard to break away. That's one reason why "face time" is still valued (in some offices) more than productivity. Viva la revolution!
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Don't forget depression... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't forget depression... (Score:4, Insightful)
My health care program (while it has its failings) covers psychiatric care. If you feel "not right" and ask for help you will be given a priority appointment for your first session and evaluation*. After that until your shrink (LCSW or psychiatrist, as appropriate to the help you need) determine you are good to go your care is covered. There is no limit on how long or the number of sessions. I'm sure the staff gets some pressure on long term patients, but the impression I got was push back by the care giver was accepted at nearly face value.
Also covered without limit are group sessions, which can be immensely helpful, at least they were to me.
Ultimately I left that job (gee, I wonder why...) but the personal tools I gained from the experience where vastly helpful. My openness about needing help in the past has had some interesting results though; at my current job one of my co-workers came to me for help with a personal issue, because their impression was I'd "been there". The best advice I could give them was to get professional help, and that if they were concerned/afraid/uneasy/whatever I would hold their hand and go to the first session till dismissed by them or the shrink. Ended up attending nearly the entire first session as a silent witness, and was asked to return after they left. Shrink both chewed me out and thanked me at the same time. I should not have been there because of the whole doctor/patient privilege issue, but at the same time, they needed help and I got them in.
-nB
*They seem to understand that in the case of psychological issues immediate intervention is not optional as the person asking for help may not do so very forcefully, but still be in dire straits, either of suicide, or "going postal".
much more (Score:2)
for the record-- he's our network admin.
Re:much more (Score:5, Interesting)
When the network takes a dive, he's the one working nights and weekends to get it back up, while you're at home playing WoW or watching Firefly on DVD.
If he never puts in the time, then he is a slacker and I hope he gets canned. If he is like most other netadmins I know, he probably logs a crapload of time when everyone else is away, yet he's still expected to put in face time during the workday. In cases like that, he's probably judged on network availability and other metrics. When all is going well, he has slack time. When all is not going well, he could put in a couple hundred hours in a couple of weeks.
If I were your manager, I'd be wondering how you found time to look at your netadmin's time in the ticket logs if you are already so busy--just something to think about.
You can't work 100% of the time (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course there are guys that are paied and do nothing. But even the most job-oriented person needs some time to let the brain do its work.
This entire hype of "spending time on the internet" is IMHO a production of HR staff that want to further decrease wages. Something like the RIAA counting losses.
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No worries (Score:2)
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Instead of wasting time surfing, they waste time sitting together trying to find ways around the filter and swapping information about it. Which is kinda good in an odd way, it increases informal communication within the company.
The drawback is that it's almost invariably strictly forbidden to circumvent it, so whenever the computer blows up because they managed to acquire some kind of malware they will keep up the "didn't do anything" story forever, even under tortur
Look at the reasons why instead!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
2. People are poorly managed (nothing to do, boring tasks, other crap)
The problem isn't the internet, nor talking to your co-workers about other stuff that work. The problem is the way we work today. It's freakin' unproductive! We are worn out and tired, and there are few things that require less effort than surfing on the web. Attack the real problem and you'll see that productivity will skyrocket, employees will be a lot happier and have a lot more spare time where they can *gasp* surf on their own, or go hiking, or learn a new language, or travel the world (lots of vacation is GOOD for productivity, not the other way around!).
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Most managers are still in the 20s, where mindless conveyor belt work did actually work along the lines of "more hours == more productivity". Yes, it increased accidents as well, but unskilled labour is easily replaced. Throw the injured one away, grab the next guy from the street.
It does not work in at least minimum skilled labour situations. And even less so where skill plays a key role. More hours only means more errors, and programming is an error prone occup
Yes, I waste time at work sometimes. (Score:5, Insightful)
See, brains are complicated things, and sometimes what I really need is a half hour or so NOT looking straight at the problem, although I tend to be sort of absently thinking about it. And then suddenly I know what to do, and I go do it.
Low-Wage Jobs (Score:5, Interesting)
When I first started at my office job during college, I was so used to being in the basic service industry that I didn't fit in right away. I was used to just taking a task, doing it, and immediately going back to the boss for the next thing. I didn't realize that the culture I was in was for slower progress on tasks and there wasn't a need to rush and be essentially managed by the boss every second of the day.
Just some things to think about. A lot of people don't realize that for a lot of American workers, and 8 hour day really means 8 hours.
Fine line (Score:5, Insightful)
*Arrive, log in, check voice/email messages, responding as appropriate. 30 min.
*Check my preferred websites. 30 min.
*Tackle biggest task(s) for the day. 2-3 hrs.
*Check my preferred websites. 10min.
*Tackle those annoying-but-not-critical tasks. 1-2 hrs.
*Lunch. 15-30 min. (usually at my desk while checking and replying to messages).
*Check my preferred websites. 10min.
*Project work, progress on multi-stage tasks. 2-3 hrs.
*Check my preferred websites. 10 min.
*Follow-up tasks, and assignments to other technology groups. 1-2 hrs.
*IF NOT at the end of the day, check some secondary sites or research some new topics until end of day. 15-30 minutes. This is the one time of day that, for me, comes closest to true cyberslacking. Often I'm just waiting for any final help calls or trouble tickets before our designated end-of-day.
The first site check of the day is longer because most headlines/topics refreshed overnight. Later in the day, I'm only scanning for new headlines or topics of interest. Of course, some days (about once a week), I never get to check my sites. Perhaps once a month I'll have a day where I can read every article that interests me. This works well for me and my employer, as my reading keeps me well aware of numerous trends in and outside of our industry, and it allows me to dive in with greater intesity when I am working. Of course, some will not believe this works without a scientific study, and I'll be the first to say this does not work for everyone. For me, however, I'm glad to work for an employer that allows for some personal use during the workday and is more focused on results than on managing every minute we're in the building. I get my work done on time, seek extra assignments, and pick up slack from my coworkers. Some would argue that my employer is overstaffed [I tried to make that point to a former employer for years until I finally bailed for my current gig, so I know the difference], but that is not the case--it comes down to how I handle my workload. I sprint, then I walk, then I sprint again. My diversions are those little walks that let me run full bore from time to time.
Am I the only one who operates like this?
Self Employed... (Score:2, Interesting)
This is very true (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been so committed to slacking, as it were, that I committed significant time to creating a backwards web gateway for myself using an automated dial-in from home, which creates a remote ssh tunnel to my work computer that forwards certain port traffic back to a proxy server on my home network. So now at work I just set my web proxy to the localhost at the specified port and surf backwards through the VPN, only using our corporate web-proxy to do job-related surfing.
And all so I can slack. Never underestimate the laziness of a programmer.
I did something similar too! (Score:3, Interesting)
We have a tracking proxy here too. I set up an old P3-550 in my basement. It's running a proxy, and zebedee.
At work, I run the other side of zebedee with a key on a usb drive. Point your browser to localhost:8080 and you're ready to rock! To the admins, they just see a stream of traffic to some webpage at notmy.real.address.com:443.
Another great slack tool is VMware. Make virtual disks with fun stuff on them and take them to work. Or bring in books in pdf format on your usb drive. Music and movie
It's not slacking off... (Score:5, Funny)
healthy (Score:3, Insightful)
If it's not the Internet it's smoke-breaks, talking at the coffee/water machine, or just looking out of the window. Also, lots of people are good at appearing busy.
And I think that's ok.
One, if you really put people in the grinder, force them to work 8 hours, no breaks or diversions, I'm sure you will soon see the quality of their work plummet, as well as their motivation. If you're a factory in backland China that might be a winning strategy, if your business is in any way dependent on thinking employees, it isn't.
Two, if you pay by the hour, and your people are only there for the money, then two things shouldn't surprise you. One, that they try to get as much money for as little work as possible. You do the same, except that you don't call it "goofing off", but "profit maximizing", or maybe your consultants have found an even nicer buzzword. But it's just capitalism. If you don't like it, go somewhere where they haven't dumped Communism, yet.
Two, you shouldn't be surprised that someday soon, some institute, consultant or survey will reveal your employees are rather badly motivated. Money alone doesn't do it. Do your homework in leadership. Throughout history, brilliant leaders weren't the guys who paid best, and that's not they are remembered for.
The web is a relief at times (Score:2)
For my job, I travel a lot so I spend countless Sunday's in airports with nothing to do when I could be home sleeping, or doing personal things. Because I give up PLENTY of my own time for the company and am paid a f
Other side of the issue. (Score:3, Interesting)
*sigh* Thanks for the title. :P (Score:5, Funny)
My boss walks up behind me and says "Don't let your boss catch you reading this? What is that Dave?"
"Umm, its slashdot boss, and Its my lunch time."
"You know Dave, internet usage isnt for personal activities...."
*sigh*
_self_discipline_ (Score:2)
Hours working (Score:2)
Yes, I also spend my personal time at evenings and weekends doing work.
What's the problem here?
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xkcd (Score:2)
Before the internet there was solitaire (Score:3, Insightful)
If it wasn't solitaire or the internet, it would be their iPhones, cell phones, Blackberry, portable video players, mp3 player or host of other electronic gadgets they have at their disposal. If you invest in monitoring their internet use, they'll find a way to proxy around it...those who don't have iPhones. Trying to regulate people's behavior turns into an endless goat rope.
If they're getting their work done and they're profitable, leave them alone. If not, let them go. It's that simple. Inappropriate material is an issue everyone should be aware of by now. If they're not smart enough to leave their p0rn on their iPhone, then they deserve to get fired. If they're not smart enough to keep their steamy email affair off the company mail system, b-bye. This isn't rocket science. So many companies over-think the problem.
The full truth (Score:2)
It also showed that about 4 out of 10 employees lie about wasting time at work.
As a sysadmin... (Score:4, Insightful)
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The bigger question should be...what percentage of this wasted time, was wasted on Slashdot??
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Re:limit access (Score:5, Funny)
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If an employer has a reason to complain about workforce productivity and sketchy work ethics, he can logically surmise that the problem began when he hired the people he's complaining about.
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People are not cookies, and one size does not fit all. If some employee has a problem surfing so much that the work doesn't get done, then, by all means, implement such a system FOR THAT EMPLOYEE. Punnishing the rest will simply reduce morale, which leads, in turn, to a productivity loss.
The big problem with systems like the one you describe is that most of the productivity calculations are based on estimated losses, and ha
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It's interesting, because while I think you're right, you could substitute "corporations" with "unions" and you'd also be right.
Unions are the advocates of their workers. A union is like a lawyer - it doesn't care if you're right or wrong, it will a
Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:3, Funny)
1. Claim you are researching business value of deploying Linux.
2. Fess up and tell your boss you are cyberslacking.
3. Tell your boss you are researching the viability of a CmdrTaco-based CRM.
4. You quickly hit the "boss" key combination which brings up vi in a console and opens the source code you were supposed to be finishing by the deadline.
5. You point out the window and tell your boss someone is picking the lock on his car.
Thank you. I'll be here all w
Re:Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:5, Funny)
not nearly enough privacy for all that midget on horse stuff i like.
Re:Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's why you need dual monitors, multiple desktops on each monitor, and your own proxy server :0)
Seriously, dual monitors allow people to work and play a lot better than a single-monitor setup. That's probably one reason why people are more productive with 2 monotirs - you can shove all the "personal stuff" to one side, and keep an ey on it without actually having to stop working on what you're doing.
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Seriously, dual monitors allow people to work and play a lot better than a single-monitor setup. That's probably one reason why people are more productive with 2 monotirs - you can shove all the "personal stuff" to one side, and keep an ey on it without actually having to stop working on what you're doing.
It's also good for work, too. Nothing like needing to be on two different servers while looking up instructions on what to do to them on a third monitor. And the large format monitors these days mean you can really tile a lot of crap on each screen. Also makes it easier when doing the support calls because I can have the user's screen up on one monitor, my main task I'm monitoring on another, and a lil' slashdot window to type in on the third. Keeps me from falling asleep while the end user hunts for the "
Re:Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's why you need dual monitors, multiple desktops on each monitor, and your own proxy server
Seriously, dual monitors allow people to work and play a lot better than a single-monitor setup. That's probably one reason why people are more productive with 2 monotirs - you can shove all the "personal stuff" to one side, and keep an ey on it without actually having to stop working on what you're doing.
I've been slacking at my job a *lot* lately. We even have this retarded timesheet system where you itemize every 15 minute block of your day to some project. If you don't book your 8 hours, it's deducted from your pay (even though we are all on salary), so naturally you book your time even if you aren't doing anything. Lately I've been doing about an hour of real work per day, and spending about 10 minutes filling out my timesheet. It really goes to show that no matter what system is in place, if someone wants to slack, they will slack, and get away with it. My brother is even a better slacker than I am. He got awards from his company and bonuses and everything. Mostly he played robotron and choplifter in mame. Oh, and xblast, and crack-attack are fun too.
Re:Poll: When reloading Slashdot every five... (Score:4, Insightful)
"We even have this retarded timesheet system where you itemize every 15 minute block of your day to some project."
I have a friend who's stuck in the same situation. Unfortunately, there is no way to be honest under such a system, because it doesn't allow for such things as research that may or may not be applicable to more than one project, but can't really be attributed specifically to one, time spent on general office and management issues, etc.
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Now try to explain that to a manager (Score:2)
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