Demotivation at Work
The wrong answer from management:
Companies are starting to ban Web access, block instant messaging services to squash discreet conversations among chatty co-workers and prohibit employees from watching sporting events on their computers.
"If you're watching video, you're probably not working," said Vimal Solanki, director of product marketing at McAfee Inc., a software vendor whose products to block Web access are selling briskly.
The correct answer from management:
Indeed, an employee for the New York City education department was recently fired for using the Web to read online news reports and visit travel sites while at work. He had been warned to stop.
That is not an isolated case. According to a survey conducted in 2005 by the ePolicy Institute and the American Management Association, 26 percent of employers have fired workers for misusing the Internet. A total of 526 companies responded to the survey.
The first example demonstrates a lack of work - by management. It's not really that hard to tell whether your employees are working or not; do they get their assigned tasks done? If they do, and they aren't violating any laws, why do you care what they are filling spare time with (yes, with some caveats :) )? If you do care, then you suck as a manager. Plain and simple.
The source of this - an article in the Chicago Tribune.
Comments
[] May 21, 2006 4:32:21.199
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Re: Demotivation at Work
[ Rich Demers] May 21, 2006 8:29:55.640
Comment by Rich Demers
I once worked for a boss who disabled the CD players on his employee's computers so they couldn't listen to music while working. He also refused to allow anyone to customize their PCs in any way, arguing that he wanted to be able to plug-replace hard drives so there would never be any downtime if there was a failure. This guy actually looked like Dilbert's boss -- short, fat, partially bald with pointy hair -- and he was just as clueless. For some unknown reason, he couldn't retain the bright people he managed to hire; the dullards, of course, hung on. The pay was good, but I couldn't wait to get out of there.
[Mousky] May 22, 2006 17:25:02.958
Rich, the workplace you described sounds similar to my current workplace. The infomation in our databases is incorrect, but there is no process to fix those mistakes (it's been two years). Once, it took 3 weeks to get the hard drive replaced in my desktop computer. During those three weeks, I was expected to continue produce as if I had a computer on my desk. The pay is good, but the work environment is depressing. It's only a matter of time before I leave.