Social Networking: The New Workplace Smoke Break 105
snydeq writes "J. Peter Bruzzese sees a solution for organizations seeking to cut down employee time spent on social networks at work: treat social networking like a smoke break. 'Try as you might to keep social networks at bay, mobile devices let people be in constant connection to their social networking vices over the cellular networks, which you can't block. Still, it's not completely impossible to stop social time-wasting over mobile: You can establish policies that, if enforced strongly enough, eliminate social networks from being accessed on company time. Treat it like smoking: Let employees take a 15-minute coffee/smoking/Facebook break and make them go to a designated area to do it.'"
I'm using my 15 minutes to make a (Score:5, Funny)
first post!
Re: (Score:2)
They used to call them "coffee breaks" back when it was acceptable to smoke damned near everywhere. When I was in college you could smoke in class! But folks still got breaks at work.
I had one job where they were afraid of ruining IT equipment by getting stuff spilled on it, so you could smoke at your desk but not drink coffee. Now it's the other way around.
So - the smokers get double breaks? (Score:5, Funny)
So - the smokers get double breaks?
Since, they will be smoking while using the social media - that's multi-tasking. Like, 30 minutes worth of break time in 15 minutes.
Not fair to those with untainted lungs!
Re: (Score:2)
Re:So - the smokers get double breaks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So - the smokers get double breaks? (Score:5, Funny)
Me too, and I don't smoke.
Re: (Score:3)
Same here....and with a smoke break, it gives me a great excuse to get up from my desk, step outside, get a bit of fresh air...and be sociable with all the other people out there on a smoke break.
Neat way to get in on work gossip and hear things going on...lots of higher level people out there smoking too, and can overhear things they're saying.
I've missed all that when I quit smoking for a month or so periodically.
Smokers get double-speak? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Ok..haha...how bout "getting a little sunshine, and getting away from the keyboard to let your mind think/relax....and if nothing else, and excuse to get up and not sit on your ass all day....walk around a bit, and then there still is the social aspect of it.
Rubbing elbows with the bosses while out there never hurts....and talking with other people in other groups, etc...
Re: (Score:2)
What you don't want to spend your break finding out what your second cousin's best friend found funny the other day? Shame on you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:So - the smokers get double breaks? (Score:5, Funny)
It was only a matter of time before we discovered that facebook caused cancer, in fairness.
Work 'em 'til their dead (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, heaven forbid your employees take 10 minutes off from their monotonous cubicle hellholes to communicate a little with friends and family. It's not like studies have shown that more worker breaks increase productivity [illinois.edu] or anything. Henry Ford actually told his workers to work less [wikisource.org] because they got more done.
Ummm, that is what they are proposing (Score:5, Interesting)
They are saying "Let employees take a 15-minute coffee/smoking/Facebook break." That isn't even in the article, that is on the damn Slashdot post. I think it is reasonable to RTFP at least.
The reason employers worry about unrestricted Facebook access is because some employees will slack hard with it. I've seen it at work, and have friends who have seen it: People who will spend hours a day messing around on Facebook not doing anything useful.
This is a proposal saying "Don't ban it, workers need a break. Let them take a break and use it a reasonable amount."
Re: (Score:2)
The solution for this is not banning, it is monitoring the use of the site so you can find the problem children and deal with them one on one. This is easily done just by looking at IP connections, you don't even need to snoop on the data.
Re: (Score:3)
they're doing it on their mobile devices. they can't snoop on that data.
that's why they're trying to con people to go into a designated booth to do it so they can count.
clever. not.
many of those offices have telephone booths already.
Re: (Score:3)
A serious problem with this is of course different usage patterns. While Greta, the 63 year old in accounting who's generally terrified of computers and barely knows how to "click open the internets" might only keep Facebook open when she's actively looking at it chances are the company's developers, engineers, IT staff and pretty much anyone young enough to not remember the days of Windows "multitask at your own peril" 9x are likely to keep a browser tab with Facebook open all day long. They might even che
Re:Ummm, that is what they are proposing (Score:4, Insightful)
One of my assistants was basically doing her work between using facebook, plenty of fish, etc., etc. I discovered this because work wasn't getting done on time, what was getting done was poorly done, and things were getting totally forgotten. Fortunately, she was using the office computer and not her phone so it was easy to check the logs.
Maybe there really are people who can multitask so that checking FB or whatever every 10 minutes doesn't interfere with their work, but I'm skeptical. I know whenever I try to do complex tasks simultaneously, I end up doing everything less well. From watching how this particular assistant, who always seems to be doing everything frenetically, and yet accomplishing very little and that, poorly, I'm even less convinced there is any value in FB for my business. So I'm one of those assholes who just blocks it at the firewall, along with a bunch of other crap.
Re: (Score:3)
I think it depends a lot on what you're doing. I've seen tech support/helldesk/IT types handle IRC + Facebook and other stuff just fine despite being "online" all day long simply because their jobs often have lots of short periods of "nothing to do, might as well check FB/IRC/<Some forum>".
Hell, as a developer I've found that doing something "recreational" between various sub-tasks I'm working on really helps me stay focused (as opposed to jumping straight from one thing to another).
I think the proble
Re: (Score:2)
Our workplace dynamic is not people checking facebook every ten minutes. It is people getting a text or update every minute or so and then instantly stopping what they are doing to reply. Since they are are using texting, which is extremely inefficient, it often takes another minute to type out 10 or 15 words. So they are effectively wasting at least 1/3 to
Re:Multi-Account Apple Troll bonch Is Back! (Score:5, Funny)
Plus tens to hundreds of other throwaway dummy accounts.
... says mr. "Anonymous Coward".
I've seen you use tens of thousands of throwaway dummy accounts and usually you're just trolling or flamebating.
I'd rather use the break... (Score:5, Insightful)
"We don't really get this social media thing, but we DO understand smoke breaks. Just send the geeks outside with the rest! Problem solved."
Counterproductive (Score:3, Insightful)
Since small breaks are actually needed to keep the brain fresh and doing good work what do you get forbidding these things? Answer: nothing good. People will find something else to do on the breaks even if it's talking to coworkers besides the coffee machine. Besides, they will be more resented, angry and productivity will probably be lower than if they were happy.
Of course, one thing is taking small breaks and another one is checking facebook every 5 minutes. In that case you're probably getting no work done. In the end is the same as restricting the Internet: A middle ground is probably the best choice. It also helps to communicate clearly the company policies regarding these things.
Slacking is slacking (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
searching for things like puppet recipes
for the pedantic, yes I know perfectly what he meant by "puppet recipe" but it's funny(er) this way
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't. Is he Korean or something?
Re: (Score:2)
Same problem where I work. Approximately 1/3 of the google search results for solutions to issues I run into in Java are blocked by our software. One of them claimed the site was banned due to religious:wiccan content.
Great Idea (Score:5, Funny)
Now we can start treating all the 'Social Networkers' as Pariahs just like we do with Smokers.
Send them outside into the rain and snow if they want to be sociable...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You get sent outside so you don't fucking stink up the place.
If you want to "network", whatever. Just don't whip out the phone and start yakking into it in the office.
Treat people as individuals (Score:4, Insightful)
If you have competent management they cn tell who gets work done. Unless you work in a factory where you have shift breaks you can tell who isn't pulling their weight. It doesn't matter the reason. If someone can do the work while reading slashdot a few times a day who cares?
Re: (Score:3)
That's such crap for a professional. I take my job seriously but I also know how I work best. Headphones on loud, email and phone off, and concentration. I do this for about an hour. Then I take 5 minutes. Bathroom, coffee, surf a little slash dot or wired, look up some work related things then back to work.
I could see if your projects are sloppy or late but if the work is good why question the method?
If you have problems with your Facebook App (Score:2)
You'll need to apply a patch.
fascist (Score:1)
I love that the message is tagged "fascist" :-D
Re: (Score:2)
if I was paying my mechanic hourly to work on my cat for 5 hours @70$ an hour
I think you have bigger problems than paying an extra $35 if your mechanic is working on your cat.
Re: (Score:2)
And if you are paying $75 an hour to have your car serviced you are getting fleeced son.
Second hand (Score:5, Funny)
They can block... (Score:1)
They have it backwards (Score:2)
Work: The new /. smoke break.
Cell jammers (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Not to mention stupid!
Re:It's not a "right" (Score:5, Insightful)
Management doesn't know shit. Taking short breaks isn't slacking off, and studies have shown that such breaks improve worker productivity.
Management's problem is that it sees everything through a veil of pie charts and graphs, and if someone spends five minutes looking at pictures of their kids on Facebook, it must mean 0.2058% less revenue. Gotta fret over those graphs and spreadsheets.
Also, yeeeaah, can you come in on Sunday, too? We lost some people and need to catch up. Thaaaanks.
Re:It's not a "right" (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of worrying about what employees are doing with their time at work, the focus should be on how much work employees get done. Who's the better employee, the guy who works 9 to 5 or the guy who works 8 to 6? What if the guy who works 9 to 5 doesn't take a break but the guy who works 8-6 spends 4 hours playing games online? And on top of that, what if 9-5 guy finishes one project a day while 8-6 finishes 3? The guy who meets his deadlines and accomplishes things is the guy you want, regardless of whether he's taking smoke breaks, playing games, or spending time on social media sites (assuming he isn't distracting other workers, a health risk, etc., etc.).
Re:It's not a "right" (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the slack executive that is incompetent at his job and got promoted by being a skilled psychopath. They can't do their job properly so they will take the easiest measures and that includes just firing 15% of the workforce at random to keep the rest on toes. Instil fear in the workers as the psychopath strolls around deciding who at random they will fire and what lies they will make up for the firing.
Re: (Score:2)
Then we also don't have problems with breaks - if you feel like you can do good work, but need a break - sure. Your work is paid by your performance anyway, so feel free to do wh
Re:It's not a "right" (Score:5, Insightful)
The core problem, of course, is that many workplaces (particularly offices) have no adequate way to measure employee productivity and thus use "time spent staring at your desk at a VDU" or similar as a surrogate indicator of performance.
The most productive people I know are the ones who regularly take short breaks. Even when we're in the middle of a crisis, our bosses will insist on us taking short breaks, and as an ex-smoker I still take fag breaks - you'd be amazed how many eureka* moments you can get whilst standing outside the office looking at a flower bed or waiting in line for a coffee wondering what the difference between two roasts is.
Just like too much coffee can ruin your concentration, staying on the same problem for too long frequently makes you blind to the actual solution.
* itself, of course, a term coined when the frustrated Archimedes took a break from trying to solve his problem.
Re:It's not a "right" (Score:5, Interesting)
That's always been a problem historically, at least in the tech/computer industry, and I suspect others as well.
The PHB's have no metrics to evaluate the people and technologies that they control but do not understand. So, they use the only yardstick they have at their disposal - judging people by their employee skills; i.e. showing up to work on time, not taking excessive breaks, etc.
Kind of sucks, but it's been that way as long as I can remember, probably longer (and I'm 50...).
Re: (Score:3)
That is certainly true in professional environment. Where I work, the developers are often slammed for missing deadlines on projects, which is the only indicator of performance. What is missed is how much time the developers spend assisting the production side of the house
Re: (Score:2)
Rightists don't like capitalism if it means they have to pay workers.
Re: (Score:2)
Some people actually expect those eureka moments, not only on break, but all the time.
http://danielsadventure.info/247/ [danielsadventure.info]
Captcha: "vibrator"
Re: (Score:2)
Not all jobs can measure productivity in such simple ways. And some jobs require people present at certain times and schedule based on that - Call centers come to mind for this. Working as an usher at a movie theater, I was required to be present and working at certain time periods.
also high over time leads to more errors (Score:2)
also high over time leads to more errors that can end taking more time over all to fix then it is to just work 40H weeks.
Re: (Score:2)
I, on the other hand,
am an idiot, because I
work 9 to 5
doing the kind of maintenance the "genius" is too smart for
so the "genius" doesn't get exposed as incompetent.
Give me the
masochistic,
hard-worker any day of the week.
There I fixed that for you. >;->
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Management doesn't give a crap about productivity, never has, grow up.
Re: (Score:1)
They need to grow up for thinking management SHOULD care about productivity? No. The management needs to grow up so that they DO care about it.
Re: (Score:2)
It does, but only as it relates to the bottom line.
Low productivity = Low bottom line = Management bitched out by upper Management (or company goes bust)
So, yeah, they do, but only to the extent it keeps their asses covered (or in business).
Re: (Score:2)
This is pretty much all the answer anyone needs right here. The reason why things like this become memes in the first place is because it's invariably true. Even good people, that swear they're going to be "different" when they break into management, often find themselves broken down by the machine and become no different than the other PHBs before too long.
It's really no different than politics, really. Everyone has lofty goals when they get into politics, but after a few years, they're playing the back
How about manual labour? (Score:1)
But in manual labour, customer service, etc. regular slacking off could have a measurable effect - and creating a structure to allow people short breaks instead could be the answer.
(Think how pissed off you'd get if you had to wait even 20 seconds for a cashier to finish replying on Facebook before serving you.)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, short breaks _don't_ improve productivity. Latest study (Harvard Business Review - http://hbr.org/2012/05/coffee-breaks-dont-boost-productivity-after-all/ar/1 [hbr.org] - _do_ sign up and read the whole article, don't just read the headline) shows that productivity is, at best, indifferent to micro breaks and at worst, reduced significantly.
How about both sides in this debate stop assuming all workers are the same. Some need short breaks and others are able to sit and stare at a problem to make progress. PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. Stop grouping.
Re: (Score:2)
But intense jobsâ"stressful negotiations or factory work, sayâ"must require some disconnecting during the day?
Yesâ"during longer breaks, but not so much during microbreaks. Also, itâ(TM)s important to note that my studies looked just at regular office jobs, some at a software company and a smaller sample at a consulting firm.
He doesn't define "microbreak" very specifically. Also, since he only looked at a software company and a consulting firm--only office jobs, and only two firms (!)--this isn't really statistically significant. In fact, I can imagine that at many other software companies and consulting firms the environments would be very different, have very different stressors, and could show very different results.
what about time wasted in meetings? (Score:2)
what about time wasted in meetings ?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Management's problem is that it sees everything through a veil of pie charts and graphs
Specifically, they fall into the trap of thinking that they can trust their numbers and their metrics. You might estimate in your head, "If people do X work per hour, and you let someone spend 15 minutes per hour on a break, then you only get 75% of X work done in that hour. Therefore, if I don't allow breaks, I'll increase the amount of work my company is doing by 33%!"
Of course, it's not that simple. People don't scale that cleanly. When you don't allow breaks, your employees get burnt out and stop b
Re: (Score:2)
Several client businesses of mine have stated a zero tolerance for slacking off unless it's on your lunch break time.
Might one of them be named Foxconn? Because that sounds just like them.
Re: (Score:2)
Smoke breaks are more productive than Facebook. Actually, smoke breaks are more productive than Slashdot too.
Re: (Score:2)
Several client businesses of mine have stated a zero tolerance for slacking off unless it's on your lunch break time.
Please list some of those clients so that everyone here can avoid ever working for them.