The Internet is both the joy and the curse of CIOs: The joy because the enterprise can do so much with it, and the curse because employees do so much with it — download porn, watch the World Cup, email family …
One alternative is to lock down devices so staff can’t access social media and other sites; another is install key loggers to record who is going where so administrators can take them aside for a reminder about corporate policy.
But this blog on Forbes.com reminds that tight management can backfire by creating poor staff morale.
A bit of common sense here is what’s needed: If there’s no evidence that individuals are spending large amounts of time — say, a half hour out of every hour — doing non-work cruising, then manaegment should turn a blind eye to what’s going on.
Remember, too, that as an increasing number of staff work out of the office this is going to be more difficult to police.
Staff to need to be regularly reminded of their obligation not to abuse their free and corporately-paid for Internet access. That also means urging them to turn off notification on personal mobile devices, email and social media accounts.
One suggestion in the column: Someone who needs to concentrate on work for 20 minutes could wear a red baseball cap, signaling co-workers not to bother them with chats, texts or emails during that time.
There are ways to ensure technology doesn’t hurt productivity. Be imaginative.