Comments on: Should employers be blocking access to Facebook?

By: Vicky

Vicky — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:24:42 +0000

It’s ridiculous to block facebook and other sites. I use facebook to look at pictures of my son that get posted when I am at work. Also to keep in touch with family over my lunch hour. Sure, block facebook and other such sites, if you want company morale to go way down. People deserve to have a little fun. Most of us work very hard and we should be allowed to use our breaks in whatever way we want. I work in a very stressful career field (child welfare) and used to really enjoy using my breaksto look at pictures, catch up with family and friends on facebook. Now they have taken all that away, and are sucking the life out of us. We work during our lunch hour often enough, and I don’t hear any employers complaining about that.

By: frankp

frankp — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:17:56 +0000

I think all companies should block access to Facebook, YouTube, personal email and, in fact, any site outside of a tightly moderated list of websited which are deemed useful to the company.

I also think cameras should then be installed to document what happens, as I think we have all forgotten how we wasted time before the internet came along.

By: David Stuart

David Stuart — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:04:27 +0000

…probably not a Facebook specific policy (unless the world goes more facebook crazy than it already is), but possibly an opportunity to reassess an organisation’s general internet usage policy with specific reference to social networks…I doubt that such policies are reassessed regularly, rather only in reaction to a crisis

By: Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:36:05 +0000

I’m with Tom on this on - worse case scenario, it’s healthier than fag breaks; best case, it’s another channel for building and reinforcing business networks without having to leave the office. Bad news for golf players, good news for the rest of us.

By: Twenty Major

Twenty Major — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:24:52 +0000

Yes, I would block YouTube and personal email.

You donâ€™t block those because you trust your employees to use them productively

How can any employee use YouTube productively? And if you think the majority of people are using Facebook in a way that benefits their company then I think you’re wrong.

They use it to chat to friends and to idle time away - not to improve their work.

Seriously, it’s 99% fluff and crap and while some people might use it to arrange a meeting or something the majority certainly do not.

By: Tom Raftery

Tom Raftery — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:15:58 +0000

@Twenty, most of what is on YouTube is irrelevant, will you block that too?

In fact most email and most of what is on the Internet is irrelevant, why not block those too?

You don’t block those because you trust your employees to use them productively. Why should FaceBook be any different?

By: Twenty Major

Twenty Major — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:09:55 +0000

But most of what’s on Facebook is completely irrelevant to most companies and employees.

If I block Facebook it means I want my employees, the ones I pay, to do whatever their work is and not fanny around on some website that’s little more than a toy.

By: Tom Raftery

Tom Raftery — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:03:42 +0000

@David - the ground rules for its usage could probably be covered by the companys Internet Usage policy. I don’t see a need for a FaceBook-specific policy.

@Twenty - from a HR perspective, the message you are sending out to potential employees when you block FaceBook is:
New trends = taboo at our company (we fear change)
We donâ€™t like the Internet
We donâ€™t trust you

From a sales perspective, people put lots of personal info into their FaceBook profile - this, properly used by sales staff should greatly increase the chance of landing sales!

Turn it around (if you want to be that paranoid employer) and if all your employees are on FaceBook, what better way to get to know them then by reading their FaceBook profiles!

Btw LifeHacker has a post you might be interested in listing productivity apps in FaceBook so you could, in fact, use it to make your staff more productive!

By: Twenty Major

Twenty Major — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:08:54 +0000

No, not at all. Perhaps for some webby based companies it might possibly have some merit but for your average Joe who has internet access in work there’s no need to use it and brings no benefit to the company.

By: Branedy

Branedy — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:47:51 +0000

say’s he, with tongue in cheeky!

By: Twenty Major

Twenty Major — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:28:36 +0000

Sorry Tom, but that’s a load of crap.

I fail to see how ‘Mary Smith is happy about the sunny day’ and sending each other crappy invitations to stupid groups or applications which turn you into a zombie are any use to any employer. That’s about the extent of Facebook’s usefulness.

I’d restrict access to it in a flash. It’s a time waster, nothing more. In fact, I’d fire any employee I found using it. They should do it on their own time, not company time.

By: David Stuart

David Stuart — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:54:10 +0000

Whilst employers shouldn’t ban Facebook, it’s probably a good idea to lay down some ground rules about its usage…i.e., what/how much is appropriate within work hours…if employees can be trusted (a big ‘if’ in my opinion) then they need to know what is appropriate behaviour