News - Social networking banned by almost half of UK companies

[HEXUS]

A new survey reveals companies are worried about employees slagging them off.

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[Saracen]

The survey was conducted by Lewis PR in partnership with HCL Technologies. "It is quite remarkable that in this day and age, many employers are still putting their employees' interests as a low priority by not allowing them to use sites like Facebook," said Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL. "While we always advocate responsible use of social networks in the office, banning them outright will impact employees' approach to work in a negative way, having a detrimental effect on the business as a whole.

"Facebook is such a popular application that is so widely used for personal and business uses, it makes no business sense to ban it, if companies do not address this they could be at the mercy of corporate suicide. Social networking is like food and drink to Generation Y workers, they are so used to communicating in a more open and collaborative way. Therefore, forward looking companies should be aiming to encourage social media activity amongst their employees rather than stifling it.

Hmmm. A survey conducted by that well-known paragon of objectivity and independence, a PR company.

I may be a cynic, but that raises a couple of suspicions in my mind. First, who are their clients? Second, what are those client's interests? Third, as this is a PR company survey, who paid for it to be done?

It strikes me as not dissimilar to a PR company concluding Christmas should be banned as a result of a survey conducted in association with WUT (Worldwide Union of Turkeys).

[1stRaven]

Its blocked from use at my place of work by me. Only employees with a valid business reason to use facebook/twitter have access to the site. While we did once allow it, the amount of abuse and bandwidth used in non business web browsing meant that we had to take effect to reduce it.

[Saracen]

Not just bandwidth, 1stRaven, but time spent facebooking instead of actually working. Most bosses would raise eyebrows if their staff were sat, in working hours, reading a novel, so why not raise eyebrows at most facebook uses too. Sounds like you have a sensible policy - access where it's needed, and otherwise, no access. But never mind facebook, the same ought to apply to any web access.

[miniyazz]

It's hardly remarkable that Facebook is commonly banned. Makes sense - ban something that will (really very little doubt about it) decrease productivity. A better policy though, perhaps, might be to ban it informally (i.e. it's not allowed but not blocked) - enabling employees to use it during breaks if they wish.

[Defiant]

Pretty old news, its just the same policies as video sites and other adult natured sites. Social sites are no different, forums are banned a lot as well.

Bandwidth is usually the reason unless you have a HR department, then its on grounds of topic.

[jim]

It's hardly remarkable that Facebook is commonly banned. Makes sense - ban something that will (really very little doubt about it) decrease productivity. A better policy though, perhaps, might be to ban it informally (i.e. it's not allowed but not blocked) - enabling employees to use it during breaks if they wish.

I agree.

At least one of my family members works in an environment where they are occasionally told "We have nothing for you to do".

However, on the basis that something could potentially spring up, they can't leave, so they have to sit in the office all day.

In that situation, it's fairly ridiculous that browsing ebay/facebook/forums is not permitted.

[Apex]

Odd thing is with our company being owned by the French who just happen to be big on the whole social media aspect and have unfetted access there but here in the UK we carn't get near it.

What made this embarrisng is that some of our french counterparts posted some stuff to twitter / youtube / faceback ect ect and ask us for comments, can you imagine their reaction when we turned round and said sorry but we carn't view the content due to it being blocked in the UK. red faces al round.....

Easyest way round this has I have found out is FB ect ect access via my mobile

[Apex]

Its blocked from use at my place of work by me. Only employees with a valid business reason to use facebook/twitter have access to the site. While we did once allow it, the amount of abuse and bandwidth used in non business web browsing meant that we had to take effect to reduce it.

Thing is in my mind taking what i posted above you should either allow it or banned it out-right, no one in my mind can make a 'valid business' reason for it to be allowed to just 'them'.

[Scott B]

I work from home and spend very little time on social networking sites regardless. Furthermore, through things like Tweetdeck, what little time I do spend checking Twitter and Facebook is very efficiently spent. Lastly, time spent not working isn't necessarily counter-productive - everyone needs down time.

[Apex]

I've found the shine has worn off for me, i use to check it quite a lot but these days i've cut back to 2 to 3 times during the day and thats it.

[kingpotnoodle]

If I was a boss I'd ban facebook from the office PCs...

It's not work, it's not for work so why should anyone access it on their work supplied equipment?

I'd not give a monkey's if people used their own phone or did it at home though, so long as they got their job done!

[Saracen]

I agree.

At least one of my family members works in an environment where they are occasionally told "We have nothing for you to do".

However, on the basis that something could potentially spring up, they can't leave, so they have to sit in the office all day.

In that situation, it's fairly ridiculous that browsing ebay/facebook/forums is not permitted.

It's more complex than that.

What an individual does, in work hours and from a work PC, is generally regarded, legally, as being done on behalf of the company, as it's agent. So .... if they say something, for instance, that's defamatory about a competitor, it may well not be the employee that gets sued, but the company.

It is therefore quite common, and often recommended by lawyers, that companies put procedures, and especially staff policies, in place to eliminate that risk. That includes restricting email access to staff with a business need for it, for example, and by extrapolation to more modern times, social media access.

This is not idle theory either. There have been a couple of high-profile lawsuits over exactly this situation. It's why a lot of companies are pro-active - prevent the problem rather than defend yourself in court after the event.

[jim]

It's more complex than that.

What an individual does, in work hours and from a work PC, is generally regarded, legally, as being done on behalf of the company, as it's agent. So .... if they say something, for instance, that's defamatory about a competitor, it may well not be the employee that gets sued, but the company.

It is therefore quite common, and often recommended by lawyers, that companies put procedures, and especially staff policies, in place to eliminate that risk. That includes restricting email access to staff with a business need for it, for example, and by extrapolation to more modern times, social media access.

This is not idle theory either. There have been a couple of high-profile lawsuits over exactly this situation. It's why a lot of companies are pro-active - prevent the problem rather than defend yourself in court after the event.

Interesting point there.

I have worked for firms before where there has been no restriction on web access, and I suppose on the basis of your argument, that comes down to trust.

Coming back to our discussion regarding productivity then, you would have to say that it comes down to much the same issue - trust.

Evidently there isn't a lot of that floating around

[Saracen]

Interesting point there.

I have worked for firms before where there has been no restriction on web access, and I suppose on the basis of your argument, that comes down to trust.

Or ignorance of the risks.

....

Coming back to our discussion regarding productivity then, you would have to say that it comes down to much the same issue - trust.

Evidently there isn't a lot of that floating around

Or, over time, awareness of the risks, or even action to address them, has increased.

[HSK]

Some sites get flagged up at work, but none of the facebooks / youtubes / twitter etc.

We all have work laptops - I don't really have a personal laptop in use at the moment, so I use the one work has given me to do whatever else I want on it too. Obviously not actively during work hours, but yea a facebook page may be open in a tab etc, I will look while I'm on break or If someone sends me a message.

I also have the smart phone so it would not be a biggie.

But I often view and make suggestions for the facebook pages, of our brands - but majority of people at work wouldn't involve it directly with their work role!

MSN doesnt connect though. Skype is ok.

I browse hexus more than my facebook. Im going to get in big trouble for all of this.