Block facebook in company?

[rafapu]

What do you think about blocking access to facebook in office?

I have a small company and I am in dilemma whether to block facebook on office computers ore not. Facebook is for sure a great "killer of productivity" but would this blockade cause negative reactions of employees? Could it be worse then leaving facebook accessible? If you block it your company, what is the best way to do it?

[Justloadit]

Welcome to TFSA.

As the owner of the company, and as the owner of the equipment in your company, you have every right to restrict access to any web page.

These social media networks take up valuable work time. At the end of the the day you are the boss, you are not there to make your employees happy, if they do not like it, they are quite welcome to resign and go somewhere else. As it is, private emails invade company time.

There is no way that you can allow an employee to allocate personal time during working hours, it just gets out of hand, and when you then do something about it, it becomes more difficult to control your staff. They must know from day 1 what the situation is. I do not allow my employees to view facebook or any of the other social media web pages in my office.

[NTLTL]

Stop them tomorrow or asap. Time is money. Also how can you stop this with cell phones, coz the social networking also applies to internet on cellphones. Take away the computer and they will just use the cell.

[AndyD]

You're quite right. I wouldn't bother 'blocking' social networking sites,anyone who's computer savvy will get around it anyhow if they want to. I would just inform your staff that all social networking is taboo during working hours and check you router logs once in a while to catch the offenders if you you like.

[Blurock]

Agreed, there are limits to what can be allowed at work. That is why they call it work and not play!

[Martinco]

What do you think about blocking access to facebook in office?

If you block it your company, what is the best way to do it?

I would suggest that you block all the social sites and porn for that matter. The program below allows you to block whatever you choose.

I use: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/ and this works well for me. To get the free version you need to have a personal email address for all the PCs you want to block ( one license per email address ) otherwise you have to pay for a license for multi use, but as Andy says, there are ways of getting around it. Just keep on watching !

I also bought "browse control" but found the program to be unstable and have subsequently moved to K9

[AndyD]

I've got to be honest I would prefer to just make a rule and not install a 'net nanny' type application. I know that if I was in their shoes I would just see this kind of program as a challenge rather than a deterrent. I'd rather treat them like adults and actually say to them that I could install some program to stop it but I'd rather give them credit for being intelligent enough to see that social networking is costly from a business point of view and adult enough to follow the rule. Also, as already pointed out they'll just use their phones instead which have independent networks which you can't monitor or stop with block-list applications etc.

[Martinco]

Andy,
I tried to do this but you will be amazed how thick skinned people can be when it comes to things like this. I actually gave them the choice, either stop the social thingy or I put a block on it ! Guess what happened.....I could just as well have spoken to the wall.
Not all people are alike........some can drive and some needs to be driven !

[AndyD]

Not all people are alike........some can drive and some needs to be driven !

I agree to a point, it's definitely a two way street. It works both ways, people tend to perform to expectations, if you treat them like kids they'll act like kids but likewise if they take a childish approach to an issue I'll also apply equally childish measures if necessary.

[Dave A]

I lean towards treating people as responsible adults first, but if they prove they're kids from there - well, that's they way they deserve to be handled (if I'm prepared to - otherwise DCM).

[larko]

If facebook is not used in business purpose then you have right to block it. You are the company owner and employees are paid to do work!

If you block it your company, what is the best way to do it?

I use http://www.facebooklimiter.com to block it on specific times so it is left accessible on breaks. I had no problem with negative reactions of empoyees.

[Dave A]

Makes note to self - the OP and larko both share the same IP address (which is not in South Africa).

[AndyD]

I use h**p://***.facebooklimiter.com

Makes note to self - the OP and larko both share the same IP address (which is not in South Africa).

The old 'good spammer/bad spammer' routine eh? Great to see you're wa wyd wakker even on a Friday afternoon Dave
Sounds like a candidate for Members Ads.

[Dave A]

Sounds like a candidate for Members Ads.

Worked out as on-topic in the end, so no big deal. The only reason I raise it is so that members know larko's post probably shouldn't be taken as an independant third party endorsement.

[tec0]

If I may, blocking can be easily done with local policies on the systems or just if you have a domain controller it will be very simple to enforce. That said I would rather invoke a company policy and give it for all the workers to sign. On this policy you state that face-book can be accessed during lunch time. The penalty would be blocking it completely if they don’t comply. That way you gave it a fair chance.