Who doesn’t sneak a quick Facebook peek from time to time at work when no one is looking, just to see if there’s a bit of drama or otherwise notable activity occurring on the global social media playground while you’re tethered to your desk?
Among the group of working Facebookers are more than twenty Dallas City Hall employees who were recently reprimanded and even counseled for their work Facebook habits after a recent probe unveiled how many man hours were spent by staff on the social network. Dallas attorney Travis Crabtree commented on the situation after it came to light, reminding employees of all companies that not only can your Facebook use be monitored, but content has been known to bite users on the derriere when viewed by the wrong party:
“It’s definitely on the ‘bad idea’ side… You hear lots of horror stories out there about employees posting things about how they’re either playing hooky, or just fiddling around while they’re at the office and getting in trouble for it when their boss sees it… Computer equipment belongs to the company and technically your time belongs to the company too, while you’re there.”
Although Crabtree is technically correct, it would be cool to see companies enacting reasonable social media use policies at work. While day-long Mafia Wars sessions are a bit productivity killing, I’d be willing to hazard a guess that employees given a bit of leeway to blow off some steam on Facebook might end up happier and more productive overall.
Do you Facebook at work? Have you gotten in trouble either for wasting time or something you’ve posted on a social media site?
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