Quick poll to prove point to Boss about private internet usage at work?

avs0020

My boss busted an employee researching car parts on the internet and now suspects that all staff are using too much company time on private emails. As a result our IT Manager has blocked all internet access.

I am sure every company has the odd eedjut who pushes his luck and abuses the system, but we have a bunch of good hardworking staff whose private internet usage is minimal and reasonable. Most pvt usage that I can see would be reading a news headline, internet banking (still allowed), booking a flight, securing a concert ticket or booking a hotel. All quick & harmless stuff. As a result of his internet ban staff are inconvenienced, feeling like they're not trusted, and are taking longer lunches to drive miles to do things they could have done in 3 minutes on the internet.

I am arguing for a 30 minute window of internet opportunity over lunch. My boss believes that the "norm" in companies is a total ban on the internet. To prove him right or wrong I need to do a survey of what other companies are doing. Can you please tell me what happens in your company? Can you also indicate if you're Dublin based - we're out in the country. I intend to present this thread to him to prove his point or mine.

By the way we do have a seperate internet policy for porn sites, etc which are all blocked and that's absolutely fine with me.

Thanks for the help!

madenuf

Sounds a tad harsh although I am get his point too. We'd be a small company of about 25 staff in Enniscorthy and they have restricted the bad ssites like porn but for the rest its open season and the managers are responsible for controlling it. Truth is you'd now from the work not being finished if someone was spending too much time surfing

zAbbo

Very draconian from your boss.

I previously worked as an IT Manager, and came to the happy medium of restricted website access at all times (blocking bebo etc / but allowing almost everything else)

Once it doesn't impact on staff work levels, or internet/server capacity - I had no problem with what people do.

It is easier for your IT Manager to limit some or all access, but opening windows of activity is slightly more tricky.

It wasn't my job to ensure members of staff are working, it's up to their line manager, and what I've found is a little leeway from both parties makes things so much easier.

Does your company have an Internet Acceptable Usage Policy?

seamus

I work in one of the largest accountancy firms in the country. Internet access is liberal, with most normal stuff allowed at any time. Stuff which consumes a lot of time (personal email, gambling sites and so forth) is blocked during business hours, but is open during lunch and outside business hours.

The usual dodgy stuff is always blocked. Usage is monitored, but not in as far as every manager getting a full report on what their staff are doing.

If you work in IT, gauging internet usage is difficult. I'm usually doing three or four things at once in addition to surfing, so it's impossible to split surfing time and working time.

[Edit: I also worked in a place where Internet access was only given to people who really needed it, on the basis that, "The girls in Finance would do nothing but surf the web all day". I still contend that's a disciplinary matter, not an I.T. one. It's the equivalent of pulling the blinds so that they can't look out the window - they will either find ways to get onto the Internet or find other non-work ways to occupy their time.

The amount of time someone spends on the Internet is irrelevant provided that they get their job done. If someone manages to spend four hours a day surfing the web but still does the same amount of work as their colleagues and to the same standard, then either you're not giving them enough work, or they're really, really good at what they do.

I.S.T.

If your boss was able to do an invisible man and sit in the office without being noticed he would observe people wasting much more time on things like chatting, making phone calls, texting, making coffee, taking smoke breaks, etc. Is he going to ban those things also?

PurpleBerry

In a certain job that I was in once I was told by another member of staff to "stay off the Internet - you're supposed to be working." Fair enough, I'd been caught sending a text online. (I thought it'd be quicker than getting out my mobile like most people do.)

But this person didn't stop! She crossed the room a few days later to scold me and tell me not to be using the Internet. I wasn't. She showed herself up to be clutching at straws.

Eoin

seamus wrote: »

. I still contend that's a disciplinary matter, not an I.T. one.

I couldn't agree more. Once the usage doesn't impact the bandwidth, the security of the network or illegal, then it's none of the IT manager's business.

My last company blocked all major message boards (boards.ie was allowed for a specific reason, thankfully) and all blogs. This was a major pain, given that there are so many IT related topics that I could be looking up.

Rather than open up a category, they would only open up a site once my manager, his manager and someone in IT support approved it. This could be a 2 day process easily, and that was just to open up one site. As a result, it greatly increased the amount of time spent searching for a result we could access, or a workaround of some description (e.g. relying on google cache etc).

tSubh Dearg

I work for a largish company/charity. We have a fair amount of blocked websites including some bulletin boards and blogs. Most news sites would be unblocked and a few other things.

Then there are restricted sites, basically places like Amazon etc for which we get limited time to access (60 mins a day in 10 min intervals.)

cooperguy

I worked in a medium sized engineering company not so long ago and they also had a liberal internet usage policy. Dodgy sites, some email providers and job search sites were the only thing blocked.

It makes sense really if people are getting their work done then it shouldnt be an issue and it serves to increase morale and have a better relationship between management and the rest of us! If people are slackers then they will find ways of doing nothing whether the internet is there or not and they should be dealt with using the disciplinary procedures already in place.

Im also going through the recruitment process for a large medical devices company (here's hoping I get the job!). This company also has a liberal internet usage policy. I know this because I have friends who work there.

Both these companies are in Munster by the way

sickle

we also have restricted access that is more open at lunchtime and after 4 basically so we can get ticket buying etc out of the way then. I don't see the point of totally blocking the internet at all, if a site i need is blocked in work all i have to do is take out my phone and browse from there (which will end up taking longer)

brightspark

I've just finished working for a "large medical devices company" in Limerick. A lot of the PCs there had internet access blocked entirely and even the ones in the canteen could not access email accounts or other networking sites (in accordance with company policy apparently). I even tried o2 and vodaphone email accounts unsuccessfully.


BUT some PCs were able to access the internet, possibly due to not having the appropriate restrictions implemented by mistake. It was impossible also to use the internal email system to send and receive external emails unless you needed to for your job.

In a company I worked in previously a lot of sites were blocked, I can't remember the system but a box with a blue banner would appear telling you it was blocked and to contact the sys admin if you felt you needed access. The usual sites were blocked but external email such as hotmail etc were accessible.
I think there had been plans to block them, but as the company had been shedding jobs at the time it was considered unfair to hinder anyone who was job-hunting.

Personally I would only use work systems to keep an eye on my emails as anything else I prefer to deal with at home. It's not as if you need to order stuff/pay bills etc online from 9 to 5 is it!

SerialComplaint

avs0020 wrote: »

My boss busted an employee researching car parts on the internet and now suspects that all staff are using too much company time on private emails. As a result our IT Manager has blocked all internet access.

I am sure every company has the odd eedjut who pushes his luck and abuses the system, but we have a bunch of good hardworking staff whose private internet usage is minimal and reasonable. Most pvt usage that I can see would be reading a news headline, internet banking (still allowed), booking a flight, securing a concert ticket or booking a hotel. All quick & harmless stuff. As a result of his internet ban staff are inconvenienced, feeling like they're not trusted, and are taking longer lunches to drive miles to do things they could have done in 3 minutes on the internet.

I am arguing for a 30 minute window of internet opportunity over lunch. My boss believes that the "norm" in companies is a total ban on the internet. To prove him right or wrong I need to do a survey of what other companies are doing. Can you please tell me what happens in your company? Can you also indicate if you're Dublin based - we're out in the country. I intend to present this thread to him to prove his point or mine.

By the way we do have a seperate internet policy for porn sites, etc which are all blocked and that's absolutely fine with me.

Thanks for the help!

To be honest, if your boss is feeling sensitive about internet use, I don't think your little poll is going to help your cause. It may well get right up his nose.

Keep your head down and let things settle. It's not the end of the world. Many opportunities will arise over the coming weeks for you to save company time/money via the internet. A gentle reminder of 'well I could do this cheaper/quicker' online will probably have more impact than this poll. You need the boss to think that it's his idea to lighten up on the ban.

doolox

With laptops goin relatively cheaply now go get one and use it to go online.
Let the company stuff their systems.

cute_cow

we have monitors to provide the IT manager with usage for all users. We do have minimal access. Personal emails like hotmail and gmail are banned. As are social networking like Bebo and Facebook.

Its not strictly enforced, however everyone seems to have a small amount of access and do not tend to be on the internet all day.

I do think having no internet access at all is extremly harsh. I do agree that some people will abuse it but, doesn't seem fair to ban it altogether.

Pythia

No internet in my place, except the company website, lol.

Agent Smith

We have full Unrestricted Internet.

Kinetic^

Pythia wrote: »

No internet in my place, except the company website, lol.

Yeah my new job is the same, doesn't bother me at all though.

eth0_

Absolutely nothing is blocked in my company, even bit torrent. Although obviously if you were seen to be leeching all day, something would be said.

Previous companies i've worked in have ranged from just blocking porn/gambling sites, to ones that block porn/gambling/message boards/instant messagers/social networking sites/webmail.

I think internet access in work should be mostly on a trust basis. If you're caught looking at dodgy stuff or spending your time on virtual poker sites, then your internet access should be severely curtailed.

ongarite

Complete ban on internet usage leading to dismissal if you are caught using internet on company time introduced last week at my company.
An employee was using torrents on company time and legal letter recieved to US company HQ from film studio and **** hit fan from there.

eth0_

Understandable really..i'm sure the directors of your company are bricking it.

What sort of idiot downloads movies from their work internet connection, it's just asking for trouble.

seamus

ongarite wrote: »

Complete ban on internet usage leading to dismissal if you are caught using internet on company time introduced last week at my company.
An employee was using torrents on company time and legal letter recieved to US company HQ from film studio and **** hit fan from there.

I'm guessing that's either a very small company without an I.T. department, or a very incompetent I.T. department.

Sherifu

Agent Smith wrote: »

We have full Unrestricted Internet.

Ditto.

Did we fight a war so we could live in China!!! :pac:

ongarite

seamus wrote: »

I'm guessing that's either a very small company without an I.T. department, or a very incompetent I.T. department.

No, one of the largest employeers in the country and worldwide. One could say they are the flagship US company here in Ireland.

seamus

That's pretty terrifying.

Blocking stuff like torrents is ridiculously simple and the 101 of network security.

KatCookie

{possibly stupid questions} Could you not just use a proxy if you were stuck?
those myspace proxies work on all sites.. dont they?

Eoin

CGI proxies are normally blocked as well as non-standard ports. That leaves standard proxies accessible through ports 80, 443, and very few other ports. And the sites that list them should be blocked by category in the firewall.

rainbow kirby

Previous employer banned internet usage from 6am-6pm, however there were very few sites actually blocked. Policy was brought in because one guy was caught looking at porn and another one was caught installing a major MMORPG on one of his desktops.

bigpinkelephant

Our company (large multinational- household name) recently blocked our Internet access for cost saving purposes!
We used to have unrestricted access except for Facebook and Bebo.
I used to spend maube 4 hours a day online because the other person I worked with was a control freak and insisted on doing everything himself, so I had nothing to do!
Now I can't even access the company website.

eth0_

eth0_ wrote: »

What sort of idiot downloads movies from their work internet connection, it's just asking for trouble.

Funnily enough in the place I'm in now I've been asked by a few people whether it would be OK to download films/music.

Have almost unrestricted access, bar youtube which I've no problem with. I use the internet in the morning, lunch and evening for personal use and often during the day for the job. I'd be completely against blocking websites since it would make my job harder to do.

[Jackass]

My company restricts internet access to ALL sites (we have company email - nothing else - no log on, can't even access company website).

I can completely agree with you OP, it makes every staff member feel like they are not trusted and are being watched over almost like being in school and it is very undermining and can cause resentment towards management which means unhappy, less productive staff.

(Internet access alone wont do this, but a general tone of this undermining staff will)

Tell your boss if he / she keeps his / her staff happy they will be more eager to work hard and impress as they feel it is the type of company they feel happy in, want to progress in and feel appreciated.

If your boss wants to watch over school children, tell him / her to expect to get a school childs attitude towards work. (do as little as possible to get by, nipping out for smoke behind teachers back, taking extra ten minutes "on the mitch" at lunch etc... )

Wishbone Ash

No internet access whatsoever for me and I'm in middle management.

I spent 10 years fighting to get a bloody fax machine and only got a computer last year.

I work in a very large (public service) organisation.