Help: Work Policies

Subject: Work Policies
From: Vixen
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:40 AM

D'Cats--

The place I work at is creating an acceptable use policy that forbids using institutional computing resources for personal use. First infraction is a warning, second one goes in your personnel file, third one is grounds for disciplinary action.

Needless to say, I won't be around much until I can get online at home.

This raises two questions for me...

1) how do I change my email address here on the mudcat?

2) how many of us are working and lurking with this level of risk?

V

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:50 AM

Why do you think I'm posting less!
RtS

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Hyperabid
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:51 AM

Officially our company has a very strict IT policy, the practice is somewhat different. However - they do react very quickly to abuse.

Recently some staff were caught distributing crude jokes and one I think pornographic images. The former were disciplined, I think the latter may now have been dismissed.

The company tolerate a certain degree of surfing, but can get quite shirty about what comes from the Inter- to the Intra-net.

Personally I find the Cat makes me more productive and I've always twiddled around doing several things at once.

Hyp

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: MMario
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:56 AM

I am very lucky in that one of my tasks AT WORK is to monitor the response and general status of the internet...guess what one of my marker sites is....

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:14 AM

As of this moment there is no written policy. I suspect that mine will be one of the first test cases when they finally catch onto how much time I spend here;-]

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Bert
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:38 AM

First try 'asking' if they could make an exception that allows personal use during your lunch break.

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:46 AM

That might work, Bert. But then they would catch on about the three-hour lunch breaks.

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Hyperabid
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:51 AM

Allan

So that's time for an entree and a beer but what about the main course and desert...

Hyp

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Amos
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:58 AM

I am blessed with a company that trusts its employees; the policy seems to be that we are hired to exercise good judgement and if they didn't expect we could do so, they wouldn't have hired us. This makes life a great deal easier on personnel and in exchange we are always ready to turn out for crunch situations. Being treated like adults, we tend to respond like responsible adults. The time I spend on the Cat is more than compensated for by value delivered and time spent on work while at home. I think it would be hard to have and live in a company where management had to consume its time designing and enforcing policy as though for juveniles. IMHO it is not the nature of the employment contract to get into that kind of tangle on either side -- but I appreciate I am lucky in this regard.

A

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 11:00 AM

Oh, well I usually sneak out about two hours early to finish up. (Actually, I mustleave two hours early to make up for the fact that I show up two hours late.)

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Hyperabid
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 11:10 AM

Truly lucky A - but in reality with the hours I put in soemtimes I think my employer has little cause for complaint...

Hyp

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Hollowfox
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 12:08 PM

I'm only supposed to do any personal use during lunch and breaks, ans I sometimes get in a bit early to check e-mail. Perhaps you could ask about modifying company policy in this direction. The number of terminals, their location (if you deal with the public), etc, may affect the administration's policy. If you can find out why the policy is in place (sometimes the policy's just outdated, sometimes there's a reason), and offer workable alternatives, that might help your cause. Good luck.

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: BlueJay
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 01:12 PM

We simply aren't hooked up to the Net, except at the highest levels of management. The rest of the desktops have 450mhz processors, but they took the sound cards out- can't even listen to music! I suppose they think that's counterproductive.

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 01:39 PM

Fortunately I'm secure enough in my job that I can get away with murder. That just means I have to police myself. Last Friday, without telling anyone, I spent the whole day at work without punching in (I'm on the time clock) because I felt so guilty about spending so much time on the Internet lately. It's a slack period at work, for some reason, and I really don't have enough work to keep me busy. Management knows this. I figure they owe me 8 hours a day, but if I hadn't taken that day off I might have run into overtime, and THEN I might have some 'slpainin' to do (to myself anyway).

I work for a small business where I personally know the owners. That's probably why I have a conscience about this, and it's probably also why my bosses have a conscience about it, and don't hassle me. (They know it's not my fault that the sales reps aren't bringing me enough work.)

I have a computer at home, too, but I prefer to use the one at work because (1) it has a much faster Internet connection. (2) I can use Netscape at work but we only have CompuServe at home. (3) I like using the laser printer at work. (4) My phone line at home has metered service (I've got to get that changed). (5) If I didn't have the Internet at work I'd go nuts. (6) It's literally more comfortable at work - I have an ergonomic chair and desk, and a Microsoft "natural" keyboard.

Fortunately, I also have an office where I face the door, so I can see when anybody comes in, and my computer monitor faces away from the door, so they can't see what I'm doing. I HATE cubicles because they usually force you to sit just the opposite way. I'd MUCH rather share an office with my own boss (which I have done, and likely will do again) than have a cubicle by myself (which I also have done), and I think I'd feel this way even if I couldn't use the Internet. Unfortunately, there is a window directly behind me, so anyone standing out in the parking lot can see over my shoulder, but I'm not too worried.

The downside of working for a small company (besides low pay and benefits) is that it's so informal and loosely structured that I'm often not sure who my real boss is, or whom I have to please. My previous boss - the one with whom I shared this office - openly used his computer for personal stuff. We used to share tips about good web sites, and he would forward funny e-mail to me. When another "boss" circulated a sharply worded memo against Internet use, he ignored it, and I followed his example. Then he quit the company. I hear he's coming back. Things can be very confusing.

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 03:26 PM

At work I am the boss, so I have to scare myself.

This was brought into proper proportion for me when the large national non-profit for whom I work (in a very small rural chapter) recently informed all intranet users (NHQ plus 1200+ local units and all the associated staff and volunteers on the intranet) that personal use of IT resources at NHQ had locked up the NHQ mainframe due to people sending too many cute jokes marked "Reply to ALL" and the extensive worldwide network of contacts was so huge that one popular message in particular killed IS for a whole day. Oops!! Mission critical communication, zapped!

The organization responded from a perspective not unlike Amos' description above, whihc asked that people just please think a bit more and also stop using "Reply to All" indiscriminately!

But I do watch what I leave on the hard disk because when the big dog's away....

So if you do not know how to delete your History files, and keep your bookmarks and e-correspondence separate, do find out!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Work Policies
From: MudGuard
Date: 14 Apr 00 - 03:08 AM

Vixen,
to change your email address:
Go to Your Mudcat Membership Registration (or click on "Membership" at the top of each page, update your email address (and other fields as necessary) and hit "Submit"
HTH,
MudGuard