http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8325865.stm





Well, who'd doubt those figures?

I really hate figures like this.

How much money would employees working like robots cost business? Hm?

How long before everyone hates work and are no longer motivated? In fact, how long before they're feeling suicidal if they haven't got a chance to check Facebook/converse with colleagues?

We have a lunchtime window where people can access Facebook, webmail etc. It is blocked the rest of the day otherwise nothing would get done.

These figures don't surprise me tbh.

People seem to have forgotten that internet access at work is a privilege, not a right. Personally I'd warn and then sack anyone that was social notworking outside of statutory breaks. Personal telephone calls aren't acceptable so I don't see why personal internet traffic should be either.

Furthermore I should think that, in the current economic climate, actually having a job should be motivation enough.

Just my opinion though

This.

Work to live not live to work.

Companies often talk about how their employees are their 'greatest asset', rarely do they show it.

Employees are the life and soul of the company - piss them off and you'll get a high turnover rate of poor quality staff and low levels of loyalty.

That's not excuse enough for letting them take the piss.

Give them an inch and they'll take a foot.

I don't think that social networking is a problem in the right environments. Certainly back at Sun we were free to socialise online (as well as 'offline' at the cafe etc), but if it was seen that we were wasting stupid amount of time, then we would be warned and action would be taken accordingly.

The 'motto' I suppose back in my office was "As long as the work gets done", OK if people slacked then warning were given etc, but who cares what you do as long as you get the work done and you get it done in a reasonable time?

EDIT:
As I said above, if I didn't socialise at my desk (ready for anything urget), I'd probably be socialising down at the cafe/coffee machine/cafeteria...

Same goes for employers.

It'd be interesting to do the figures - £billions lost in 'productivity' vs. £billions in unpaid overtime/work done out of hours.

Oh I agree with you there.

If companies want their staff to show respect then they need to reciprocate appropriately. Evryone should be paid for the work that they do and not required to do any more than they are paid for.

Sadly it seems to me that everyone, employers and employees, are taking the piss.

And a risk of them running off with company data, or stationary.

Now that I can agree with, +1.

Steady - me too! Although, there's a little too much of this "+1" business around here at the moment.

Self-employment, it's the way of the future.