Should Facebook be banned at the office?

By: Qwaider

On:Friday, April 11, 2008 9:50:18 PM
In:Thoughts
Viewed: (3048) times

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Social networks are very popular. so popular that millions divert thier attention towards them on a daily bases. Often while on the company's time. Burning both time and resources as they poke friends, search for long lost lovers, envy thier more successful colleagues or gloat over thier own marvellous achievements.

It's no secret, business owners are concerned. But should they ban Facebook in response?

There's a lot that goes into play when you're discussing worker productivity and thier access to certain sites in the Internet that may be taking too much of the corporate time, network resources and opens the door to a whole slew of possible malicious attacks

Some IT managers have made the case that the risk is not justified and many companies have cracked down on sites like Facebook, Myspace and a bunch of other community networks.

Any employee needs to be reminded that all his actions are actually being monitored, and everything he does on the Internet is probably going through a corporate proxy/firewall server of some sort. Since Facebook and other sites don't offer SSL encryption for thier users, the end result is that your IT manager can see EVERY SINGLY WORD YOU WROTE on Facebook. He can read it in clear text.

It managers are also fearful from the effects of spam, spyware and other malicious applications that might infiltrate thier corporate network through seemingly harmless applications that the users might be lured to download into thier company's network.

Despite all of that, many companies still allow thier employees to browse freely to almost anywhere they like on the Internet. With limited or no restrictions. But many fear the days of completely unrestricted access to online services might be numbered. Even worse, there are fears that certain schools and collages might follow in the footsteps of major corporations in this trend.

So what do you think? Should Facebook be banned from the office? Consider both the employee and the employer point of views.

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« What marriage is not, AGAIN!

Fine! These are the responses! »

Memories....

#1
za3tar
Said
On: 4/11/2008 11:48:55 PM

I personally don't think that any blocking (except maybe for adult content) should be applied in offices and work places. Certainly, i wouldn't want to work at a place that does that.

I mean, if your employees are going to waste time on Facebook, then just blocking Facebook will not solve your problem because they will go ahead and waster their time on yet another website. Or, even better, use one of those online proxies (or online operating systems) to over come the network restrictions.

So, i honestly think that blocking traffic only solves the symptom and not the problem, and thus it is not a viable solution.

..damn, i really should be doing my homework or at least some coding, but i can't get myself to. I have been all over the blogosphere (at least twice) today. ..argh

#2
chikapappi
Said
On: 4/12/2008 12:10:02 AM

Hmm... Well, this coming from a FB addict, no I don't think it should be banned as long as the employees knows that there are limitations and it won't keep him - her distracted from the job.

I mean, one cannot go sit for eight and a half straight hours of work! hence blogging and facebooking as short intervals are necessary. I think that staff should be warned as you mentioned that everything is monitored and in case one employee exceeds the limits then that should be banned on his - her own not everyone!

#3
TripleM
Said
On: 4/12/2008 1:17:08 AM

I dont think it should be banned.
I think as long as I have free time why not enjoy spending it Facebooking or bloging.
Finish work play a bit then get back to work otherwise it should be banned

#4
Jano
Said
On: 4/12/2008 1:59:08 AM

its banned in our office during work time (accessible during break time and after)

of course not to me since im IT :D but when it was banned all people start calling IT asking what happened hehehe and after that work performance was doubled better :p lol it was funny!

#5
Maher
Said
On: 4/12/2008 2:58:17 AM

i think not only facebook should be banned, but also youtube! they distract workers so much!

#6
KJ
Said
On: 4/12/2008 11:34:01 AM

Dunno man, I got some mixed feelings about this. I was living fine without FB in office, and still do, but I know some others are addicted.

My belief is that the more employees feel they are restricted, the less productive they are. Conversely, the more options are there - depending on the person - the more time they'd waste.

Perhaps a good policy would be to block such sites during most hours and unblock them during "lunch hours", maybe between 12 - 2, or during those sleepy-end-of-the-day hours, like 4-5 or 5-6. That way the bandwidth is not being constantly consumed (and man does YouTube and FB apps consume a lot) while at the same time telling them that the company too cares about its employees and gives them some nice liesure time as well.

#7
Mona
Said
On: 4/12/2008 2:45:31 PM

Is Facebook only should be banned at offices? what about blogs? Forums and messengers?
All of them should be banned.

#8
Dino$
Said
On: 4/14/2008 9:31:01 AM

Facebook being blocked at work would force people tp use other ways to wate thier time li2ano it's the not the concept of facebook its the idea of Who actually spend their time at working WORKING bi DAMEER

They might as well block blogs and emails.

fil awal wil akheer it goes back to the person himself/herself and whether or not they have the intention of working.. with or without facebook il bidoosh yishithgil 3omro ma ishtaghal :)

#9
Maioush
Said
On: 4/15/2008 2:39:37 AM

i'm so glad that i'm not a facebook fan :)
i'll say why bother!! they will find something else sooner or later :D LOL!

#10
Hani Obaid
Said
On: 4/15/2008 7:42:27 AM

Not only should facebook be banned, but all none-work related websites: blogging, entertainment, gaming, etc....

I see people at work playing Red Alert 2, internet chess, java games, browsing facebook, blogs, porn etc... Of course as soon the boss walks in they start complaining that they have so much work they can't get it done. I think this is extremely childish.

When you take a job, you made a commitment to work a set number of hours for a specific wage, and it is you duty to honor that commitment or quit the job. Of course most people don't have any honor to speak of.

Anyway I recommend a hardware firewall device called fortigate. They actually have a subscription service that rates all sites (you can submit new ones). So you can block specific categories, block specific keywords, and choose whether to block anything unrated.

The funny thing is when you implement these blocks the people who complain hardest are usually the least hard working employees of all (and the ones that complain the most about the workload).

#11
Marvin the Martian
Said
On: 4/15/2008 5:49:15 PM

I think ALL internet traffic should be banned unless it's required for your job. And employees should be shackled to their desks during working hours. It worked on the Roman slave galleys. ;-)