Sawmill Creek At Work

[Joe Angrisani]

Looking at the volume of postings over the weekend and on today's holiday, and I can't help but notice there are far fewer posts whenever it's not a regular workday. I betcha half of the SMC posts are made between "9-to-5", Monday through Friday. To me, it's a vivid example of how much employer's time is wasted by non-work-related web browsing and such. Has anyone else noticed this over time? I'd be curious to know how much "on the clock" time is spent in idle surfing by the average paid American employee.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this??

[Callan Campbell]

Sawmill Creek FUN, WORK, um NOT...................

[Joe Angrisani]

WORK, um, employer is paying you for your time. Not for you to have personal FUN.....

That's my point in case it wasn't crystal clear.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joe,

Your conclusion is one option. The other option is that people spend holiday and weekends with family or friends and thus less time on the internet.

[John Coloccia]

Actually, my employer used to pay me for my knowledge, experience and results.

Generally speaking, if an employee is underperforming, that should be taken up by a manager that's paying attention. If employees are spending hours a day surfing the net, someone is obviously not paying attention and is setting expectations far too low. Either that or they have brilliant employees that can goof off AND perform at a high level...I don't really see a problem with that.

An open and free work environment is a good work environment. A good work environment contributes to free flowing interchange of ideas. It's a place people want to be. As long as the work is getting done, I don't see it as wasteful at all. It's an investment and just another cost of doing business.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I retired on the first day of this month. Often when I posted here during the day, I was either on site waiting for a diagnostic scan of 1 hour or more in length to finish or I had my work caught up and there wasn't anything to do and I was in my home office or my family room posting from my home computer. Often when you saw me posting in the evenings I was on site at a hospital waiting for a 1 hour or longer diagnostic scan to run on an MR scanner or CT scanner and couldn't do anything until those scans are done.

Most businesses....even hospitals today have figured out what their employees are doing and have configured software to limit their employees time on the internet. A lot of employees are unaware that the same employers can and do track time spent on the internet and the websites being visited.

[Dave Wagner]

I see it all the time, people surfing, NON work related. We are allowed, but before work, after work and at lunch. Why take the chance? I see many people texting, playing games, etc.. on their cell phones, they are getting just as bad, since you can do everythign on them and they can't monitor your activities on your phone.....

[Dave Gaul]

I work for a large company (12k+ employees). My boss is a state away. I'm a one-man show with almost no supervision, all of my work gets done way ahead of expectations. I come to SMC a few times a day at work. Usually in the morning, I come in early before a 0800 meeting, I check out the creek while the coffee is brewing. I come on at lunch time. I am salaried, and I work until the job is done. I come on between tasks, kinda like a smoke break... I would be willing to bet I spend less time on break than any smoker does in the work place. My company tracks everything done on the computers. It isn't a problem, unless you become a problem! If you fail to perform, screw up or whatever else, they'll use your net time against you. My company's policy clearly states that personal internet use is ok, as long as it does not interfere with your duties.

If the job is getting done and the person is performing above the expectations of the employer, I see no issue.

Ok, back to work I go!

[Pat Germain]

In my job, I'm often waiting for someone or something so I can do my job. During those times, I ocasionally check SMC.

I suppose I could start smoking. Then I'd be hanging out with other smokers on the patio for fifteen minutes of every hour.

[Steven DeMars]

What he said . . .

That said . . . I'm a industrial designer . . . I am paid for the problems I solve & the packages I produce . . .

If my employer did not want me to have INTERNET access he would simply turn it off . . . and I would find a new employer . . . then he can start that game all over again with the new guy . .

The days of the grind stone is over dude . . . companies destroyed that "AMERICAN WORK ETHIC" when they destroyed the American Workplace . . . outsourcing, union busting, eliminated pensions, demanding drug, tobacco & in some cases alcohol test, I could go on & on . . . . . .oh wait, I forgot the smokers . . . you know the 4 to 5 fifteen minute breaks everyday . . . then you got the early birders when flex time is available . . . . get there at 6;00, bs with the other early birds, drink coffee, bs some more, than when the normal time people come in they start all over with us . . . hey that's not bad, two hours to bs in the morning and then leave an hour early. hey thanks , I'm changing my schedule this week . . . early birder I will become . .

Maybe everything is as it should be and you just need a better job where you are treated as a professional & not a burger worker . . . I never worked fast food as a kid simply because no one was every going to treat me differently than I would treat others . . . . . . .

My motto is simple, if you can hire someone that can accomplish the task you have given me BETTER, FASTER & CHEAPER . . . HIRE HIM . . .

I'll go to work for your competitor in the morning . . . Just like employers say now days, "LAYING YOU OFF IS NOT PERSONAL, JUST BUSINESS"

Taking my skills to your competitor is "JUST BUSINESS" . . .

I'm sure you will get a lot of answers and comments . . .

Actually, my employer used to pay me for my knowledge, experience and results.

Generally speaking, if an employee is underperforming, that should be taken up by a manager that's paying attention. If employees are spending hours a day surfing the net, someone is obviously not paying attention and is setting expectations far too low. Either that or they have brilliant employees that can goof off AND perform at a high level...I don't really see a problem with that.

An open and free work environment is a good work environment. A good work environment contributes to free flowing interchange of ideas. It's a place people want to be. As long as the work is getting done, I don't see it as wasteful at all. It's an investment and just another cost of doing business.

[Brian Tymchak]

I bet you would find a spike in access and posting at lunch time. I browse the creek on my lunch hour while eating my lunch at my desk. I work in IT and don't have a hard work schedule. It's generally ~8:00 to ~ 5:00, but I work until the job is done and that often means I contribute personal time. In reality, I get enough screen time on the computer at work that I have 0 desire to login at home after hours or on the weekends.

[Jim Rimmer]

I bet you would find a spike in access and posting at lunch time. I browse the creek on my lunch hour while eating my lunch at my desk. I work in IT and don't have a hard work schedule. It's generally ~8:00 to ~ 5:00, but I work until the job is done and that often means I contribute personal time. In reality, I get enough screen time on the computer at work that I have 0 desire to login at home after hours or on the weekends.

I eat lunch at my desk and punch up SMC then as I am sure a lot of folks do. Note the times on the responses you received. I don't know if you are self employed or retired but Inoticed the time on your post was 10:48 AM.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim....today is a holiday for some folks......Presidents Day....my wife's former co-workers are taking her to lunch today to celebrate her retirement....there's no school today......Holiday.

[Derek Gilmer]

A lot of it depends on the company, job requirements and work done outside 9 to 5. I work as a programmer/db admin type gig. Sometimes there is little to do for 10 or 30 minutes in a row. Usually that involves waiting on a query to run, customer to respond to questions or on conference calls that don't involve me but I'm required on " just in case". My boss and his leadership have no problem with facebook, youtube or any time wasting in such situations. By the same token when a customer calls at 2 in the morning for an emergency fix I don't get to say "sorry I'm in the office 9 to 5 I'll check then". It is also pretty rare for any of the people in my area to work less than 40 hours a week not counting any administrative stuff or meetings we might have to be at. Maybe it is different because us programmers as a species value flexibility and the chance to do it our way. That also opens up a lot of solutions that a different environment at work may not foster. Heck look at the Apple and Google programmers they have a very sweet setup that would seem lazy...very lazy to someone who does hard/manual work all day. Trust me, I grew up working in construction and through college. But those two companies crank out some of the most interesting and profitable code around.

[Jim Rimmer]

Jim....today is a holiday for some folks......Presidents Day....my wife's former co-workers are taking her to lunch today to celebrate her retirement....there's no school today......Holiday.

Oops! I work for a company that only gives us the traditional holidays - Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, July 4 - so I don't even think about Veterans' Day, MLK Day, and Presidents' Day as being days when some folks are at home.