Perhaps you or a family member recall a difficult time in your professional life, such as getting through a period of high unemployment. Perhaps you remember your grandfather's stories as a child, where he had to work his ass off during the Great Depression to put food on the table, or his troubles during 1938-1945. Perhaps you've seen stories of the plight of children in impoverished nations who are forced to work on inhuman wages so that some foreign company can make a little more money.
Those are all terrible, terrible things, but let's turn our attention to today's issue: there are people out there that won't work for an employer who won't let them access Facebook from the office. There is but a single two word response to that, and it ends with "you".
A research company that specializes in information technology companies took a closer look at issues surrounding the use of social media sites at the office. As it turns out, according to their findings, productivity goes straight down the toilet – to the tune of 1.5%.
I have to admit to having a bit of a chuckle when I read that. Hell, I lose 1,5% every time I head to the loo, have a coffee, or even catch up on e-mail! Of course, when everyone drops by 1.5%, the company really starts to suffer!
That brings me to my next point, when did we as a society decide that social media web access was as a condition to employment? Does anyone else realize how ridiculous that sounds? Perhaps in the future, administrative assistants will have their attorneys negotiating fine points of the work contract.
I think it's high time that companies start being open and honest about how company employees are using technology. Blocking access to certain sites is not a morale booster in any company. However, employees should know the difference between logging on for just a few minutes to update your status or to send a quick message.
The fact that we still have to discuss such issues in 2009 is not a positives sign for our future.