Checking sports scores from the night before, the news and weather all day are a waste of my time, and my company shouldn’t (and isn’t) paying me to do those things.

As an employer, I truly appreciate the sentiment here. I know that our team, myself included loses time surfing (one would argue that I’m doing just that now). The issue in my view is that the lines between work and personal life are blurry. Until companies can promise not to ask their people to carry laptops & blackberrys, and not to work from home, etc. they are on shaky ground asking their people not to have some personal activity spill into their time at the office.

Mark

Secondly, some of the greatest ideas companies have capitalized on were discovered during a browsing session online from the workplace. My company always finds great products to make our business grow because we started with something like “What is google inc up to today?” or “Oh look what Mark Evans is talking about… that sounds like a great company, lets see what they are doing”

There will always be time wasted no matter what is banned. For all the efficiency that the Internet has given us and the ever increasing work load people have to face in their every day lives, give them a break and let them surf!

As for me, I’m relied upon to come up with new ideas and things to do at work, and a big part of that for me is reading blog entries, checking out new “cool” sites, and interacting with my peers. If my company were to limit access to the internet for me, it would either severely limit the ability for me to do my job, or cause me to push those activities into my free time at home (in which case, I’d be changing jobs rather quickly).

It’s a tough call.

The debate around banning sites like Facebook and MySpace does in part revolve around productivity issues. However, its also the derogatory comments which has raised concerns in both the public and private sectors.

I believe that we are still in a reactionary phase when it comes to turning to workplace policies to correct some of the issues related to productivity and trash-talking. I look at it similarly to the wave of deucing that was occurring when people were getting fired merely for having a blog.

In an article describing some of the risks associated to “Free Web Apps”, I touched on how workplace policies and guidelines are a good starting point. Extreme policies which ban outright participation on a social networking sites, or for even having a blog is not the solution. Some companies expect their employees to be using their time at work performing the duties for which they are being paid - however, employers ought not assume that they don’t need to put together guidelines clearly defining the parameters of use, nor should the employee assume that if there isn’t a policy, that its safe to blog or spend time on Facebook or MySpace.

I believe a balance might be struck by openly discussing online Internet usage at work with staff. Extreme approaches of outright banning will have some fallout. Aside from the aforementioned cultural backlash, you will get folks questioning banning policies when they discover that Ned (the tech geek whose job duties rely heavily on internet usage) is always online, alluding to the possibility that the policy may be treating some staff with preference.

And although your position is an extreme one, outright banning is one of the main views which is informing business with more conservative leanings. Asking your employer and being well-informed of the existence of any workplace guidelines is always a good idea and can save you from the awkwardness and embarrassment of being terminated for having a livejournal or blogger account. Or worse, for starting a “water-cooler” or “company” themed group on Facebook or MySpace for your co-workers.