We’re all Facebook users here at Delib, so we were wondering when this tension might start rearing its head. Should people be allowed to use Facebook at work?
Today the TUC has called for staff to be allowed to use Facebook at work and not face disciplinary procedures for doing so. Interestingly, this call seems to be aimed somewhat at local authorities, which from past experience is unsurprising. I remember back at Bristol the Corporate Consultation Team having to get permission to have discussion forums unblocked from our computers, as we needed them for, well, discussion with the public! We still occasionally hear of councils who can’t use our Demgames because they have the word ‘games’ in the title, perhaps we should have called them ‘Damgemes’.
It’s odd, there such a dissonance in approach between how the public and private sectors use the internet. The open innovation exchange tender process we were involved in seemed entirely at odds with standard procurement procedures, we like sharing, collaborating and see real benefit in being open as possible about what we’re up to. The notion of restricting social networking sites at work just seems odd, as long as people are getting their work done, what’s the issue?
Maybe that’s the point, this isn’t about facebook, it’s about people not feeling interested and stimulated at and with their work. If you can’t deal with this, then banning a website isn’t going to make people any more productive.
