Social Media at Work: Should Access Be Allowed or Banned in the Office?

Hi,

Should sites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, and other such social networking sites be allowed to access from the office, or should they be banned?

The Impact of Social Media on Workplace Productivity

The usage of online social communities and internet surfing has been a common cause of concern as it affects productivity. On the contrary, some companies that are doing excellently well have been able to channel this. I understand it requires an environment wherein standards can be set by the organization's leaders and later monitored by reporting managers to keep the usage under control. Please find two articles discussing the concerns.

The first article is about the situation that we currently face - Social media in the workplace: http://www.entrepreneur.com/manageme...cle206770.html

The second article is a report on social ranking in top companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Google, AMD, and other market leaders.

Please share your viewpoints as it would be interesting to arrive at a collective learning. We need to strike a resolution for this.

Regards,
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The Role of Social Networking Sites in the Workplace

We, the executives, in fact, find a number of useful contacts on such social sites. During spare time and leisure time, we can use the same for healthy chatting to help us relax. Therefore, there is no harm in permitting these sites in organizations, provided they do not affect the employees' productivity. A little supervision and monitoring will help us restrict individuals who spend too much time browsing such sites.

Regards

Good afternoon, social networking sites should be banned or not; it depends on the internet policy of the respective organization. Therefore, one should not access these sites during their official hours, although these sites may act as stress busters during hectic hours and schedules.

Regards,
Prof. Rajesh.W

Most of the companies have banned such types of websites, but these resources are useful for HR professionals to increase their productivity. Nowadays, LinkedIn, Facebook, Orkut, and many other job classified sites are good resources for hiring people. [Link outdated-removed]

My company allows all the site access, and this is the kind of freedom I enjoy in my company. I work with a US-based company that did not get affected even in the slowdown. Also, the leaders do not question the employees' productivity. Their faith in the Indian offices has increased. Indian offices have generated great revenue. Freedom never affects productivity; it makes the employees responsible!

Thank you for your inputs. I was really keen to know the policies and practices that any company which is doing well, irrespective of internet use. As shared in the studies, the companies with the highest social ranking are most profitable. Hence, I am sure they could set certain guidelines that have not yet been known by others and, therefore, not implemented.

In this discussion, I really want the HR professionals to share their best practices so that we can find resolutions for all.

Regards,
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Hi,

It's your and your organization's choice, buddy. It depends on the staff of your organization. If they mostly misuse and waste working time, and do not complete their own tasks on time, then it should be banned.

Regards,
Gaurav

I am working in a Canada-based software company where we have an internet marketing section—one of our prime departments. Before joining here, I believed that most people used social networking sites for passing time. However, my perspective has changed, likely due to my experience on the HR side.

It's one of the best ways to learn more about the world we live in. We receive recent updates on any topic, and it's an edifying process too. However, the freedom given by the company should not be misused at any cost!

Regards,
Bindu