Krell
March 3rd, 2006, 08:11 AM
Once Again, Company With Obvious Bias Warns Of The Horrors Of Personal Surfing
Contributed by Mike (http://www.techdirt.com/search.pl?author=Mike) on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 @ 02:29AM
from the get-over-it dept.
It's like clockwork. Every few months we see headlines (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050509/1649216_F.shtml) proclaiming how personal surfing at work is bad (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20021101/1016211_F.shtml). In every single case that we've seen, the "study" has been done by an internet filtering/security firm. The latest is no different. It makes a big deal out of the fact that employers are "damaging their business" by letting employees surf the web (http://www.pingwales.co.uk/2006/03/03/Internet-usage-policies.html).
How do they come to such conclusions? By finding out that (gasp!) over a third of employees spend more than 30 minutes a day personal surfing. And that's obviously bad. Why? Because it is. It's so bad, in fact, that they recommend "locking down corporate networks to all but essential business applications and strictly controlling access to non-work-related web sites." I wonder who might provide tools to do that? Oh look... the company that sponsored the study and gave that quote! But, did they bother to look at whether or not that personal surfing was actually damaging? Nah. Did they look at whether or not that personal surfing helped give employees a much needed break that helped them be more productive while working? Nah. Did they look at how people who were blocked from personal surfing found other ways to waste time? Nah. Did they look at how those who are allowed to personal surf at work often use it to take care of tasks that would otherwise take them away from work? Nah. Did they look at how so many companies today expect employees to be on call so that work invades their home as well? Nah. Did they look at how allowing personal surfing at work tends to make happier, more loyal employees (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030131/0120250_F.shtml)? Nah. Or did they look at any of the other research that has shown that employees who do personal surfing at work tend to more than make it up (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030204/1349202_F.shtml) by doing work at home? Nah, of course not. Did the "staff writer" who wrote the article (it looks more like rearranged a press release) think to ask any of those questions? Nah. Yes, of course there are people who abuse their privileges and surf too much. However, that can be judged by whether or not they're actually getting their work done. Have we seen the last of these types of stories? Nah...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060303/0228247_F.shtml
.
Contributed by Mike (http://www.techdirt.com/search.pl?author=Mike) on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 @ 02:29AM
from the get-over-it dept.
It's like clockwork. Every few months we see headlines (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050509/1649216_F.shtml) proclaiming how personal surfing at work is bad (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20021101/1016211_F.shtml). In every single case that we've seen, the "study" has been done by an internet filtering/security firm. The latest is no different. It makes a big deal out of the fact that employers are "damaging their business" by letting employees surf the web (http://www.pingwales.co.uk/2006/03/03/Internet-usage-policies.html).
How do they come to such conclusions? By finding out that (gasp!) over a third of employees spend more than 30 minutes a day personal surfing. And that's obviously bad. Why? Because it is. It's so bad, in fact, that they recommend "locking down corporate networks to all but essential business applications and strictly controlling access to non-work-related web sites." I wonder who might provide tools to do that? Oh look... the company that sponsored the study and gave that quote! But, did they bother to look at whether or not that personal surfing was actually damaging? Nah. Did they look at whether or not that personal surfing helped give employees a much needed break that helped them be more productive while working? Nah. Did they look at how people who were blocked from personal surfing found other ways to waste time? Nah. Did they look at how those who are allowed to personal surf at work often use it to take care of tasks that would otherwise take them away from work? Nah. Did they look at how so many companies today expect employees to be on call so that work invades their home as well? Nah. Did they look at how allowing personal surfing at work tends to make happier, more loyal employees (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030131/0120250_F.shtml)? Nah. Or did they look at any of the other research that has shown that employees who do personal surfing at work tend to more than make it up (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030204/1349202_F.shtml) by doing work at home? Nah, of course not. Did the "staff writer" who wrote the article (it looks more like rearranged a press release) think to ask any of those questions? Nah. Yes, of course there are people who abuse their privileges and surf too much. However, that can be judged by whether or not they're actually getting their work done. Have we seen the last of these types of stories? Nah...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060303/0228247_F.shtml
.