Young employees frequently ignore IT policies
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As an ex-IT manager I can tell you that if you block facebook, after the initial shock then productivity more than doubles.
When I blocked Facebook at home, I noticed similar returns in quality of relationship 
I guess ultimately, I'm referring to establishments that block everything but intranet sites. That's overkill in my opinion. When workers can catch up on the news or surf their favorite forums (
) they're more likely to have the good, patient mood necessary for customer service interactions.
You will always have the workers who don't want to be at work for whatever reason, but for the hard workers it's a nice treat.
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I always proxied everything and if I found something was being accessed more that I found acceptable then it was blocked, this was really a little hypocritical as I was running all my sites on company time in those day lol
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Hi there
in general good idea -- for example at my present contract there is an "un-monitored" free Wi-fi facility available where you can connect your own laptop / phone -- decent managers soon know who is "abusing" these facilities.
In any case I think (or at least from what I can see) the present infatuation with Facebook is diminishing quite substantially --especially as it has gone more "Mainstream and Corporate".
If you travel a lot you DEFINITELY need frequent access to latest News / travel imformation
For example I hope to travel later tonight (Thur 22 Dec) but am in Brussels where there is a 24 hour Public Sector strike - which may include Air traffic controllers too.
A LOT of Eurocrats / company HQ staff of international organisations / Nato etc etc would all be travelling at this time so it needs a bit of research on how to get home in good time for XMAS.
If these sorts of sites were blocked it would NOT be pleasant at all -- and probably half the company would have finished YESTERDAY !!!.
Company policy can never really be set in stone -- things do have to get driven by users at times -- and I know this makes an admin's job really difficult in really deciding between "Needs and wants" -- but 100% agree I have NO time if I'm waiting for a shop assistant to finish their texting or phone call.
When doing a few temporary stints in a Bar if a customer was still on the phone I'd ignore that one and serve the next person -- it works BOTH ways !!!!.
Cheers and happy Hols
jimbo
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Any "decent" system admin will group employees anyway, for ease of management of access to data on the company servers, and this can be extended to include internet access.
Whereas it may be essential for a mobile worker to have access to the news and travel sites Etc., (and local admin access to "their" laptop), it is not a requirement for everyone to have this access.
The amount of access provided should be discussed between the employee and the system admin to make a workable compromise and also as John stated above all access should be monitored and adjusted to provide a system that works for both parties. If it is seen that a particular site is being blocked on a regular basis it may mean that this site is needed for work and may be then unblocked, (or of course not if it is deemed to be unsuitable)
It is not necessary for office workers to have access to the general web, whilst working, but I agree suitably controlled access is a privilege that can increase staff morale
When I ran bars the rules for personal phones were intentionally draconian, as the customer service was paramount.
All phones had to be left in the staff room, switched off, use of a personal phone "on the floor" was classed as "gross misconduct" with all the connotations that that brings.
Staff were provided with contact numbers and were encouraged to give this number to anyone that possibly needed to contact them in an emergency, and calls were routed to them when needed.
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