Should Facebook be banned from the workplace? Can an employers internet access be revoked?..
Questions like this arise when touching on the sensitive topic of Facebook in the workplace. Recently the government of Ontario has barred it employees from access to Facebook. Apparently employers believe that allowing access to social networking sites such as Facebook decreases productivity within the workplace. Originally Facebook was created to connect students in colleges for easier access to information in 2004 at Harvard University. Facebook has now turned into a media outlet for millions of people across the world. Exchanging valuable information over a social networking website such as Facebook is now almost an unimaginable reality because of the amount of people who actually have a Facebook account now. The issue of minors joining the Facebook phenomena is now also an issue in which Facebook seeks to fix.
Facebook in the work place can be very distracting and this is the reason that the Ontarian government and workforce employers are choosing to stick with. If you ask me I completely agree that Facebook can be a distraction in the workplace and if it isn't than employees shouldn't have a problem with it being banned from the workplace to begin with. If Facebook wasn't a distraction in the workplace employees wouldn't mind it being banned because the issue wouldn't be that serious. Some of the reasons employers seek Facebook to be a distraction is because it can ultimately decrease the amount of time an employee actually spends working which is what employees get payed for.
Ultimately, I agree with the Ontario government that Facebook should in fact be banned from workplaces. Maybe not all workplaces depending on the leniency of the environment but in places such as government offices and workplaces of that nature. This issue is really a case by case basis, but the idea of the Facebook phenomena being eliminated from the workplace sounds like a good idea to me. It's less tempting and ultimately far less distracting than knowing that you can access Facebook at any time.
Facebook in higher education organizations should also consider banning Facebook. Facebook has a large impact on the younger population considering the amount of access that Facebook gives the user to other sources such as games, links to other networking sites, videos, messaging and etc. Facebook can also contain pornographic content which can ultimately lead to the firing of an employee or the emancipation of a student from their class. Like most other things in today's age Facebook serves as a temptation and an escape from where one currently is. If a student is said "bored" in class they will likely turn to Facebook, a getaway from what is going on in the moment or during an important lecture. If an employee is bored and has said "nothing to do" they will also likely turn to a resource such as Facebook instead of finding other tasks to complete in order to keep busy.
Think about it this way.. If you owned an organization or corporation and you were the employer of approximately 1,000 plus employees all within the age group of 21-35, would you be worried about the amount of time people were spending actually working? Personally, I would eliminate that worry by saying farewell to Facebook in my workplace!
Source: www.employmentlawtoday.com (Facebook controversies arise in workplaces)
Think about it this way.. If you owned an organization or corporation and you were the employer of approximately 1,000 plus employees all within the age group of 21-35, would you be worried about the amount of time people were spending actually working? Personally, I would eliminate that worry by saying farewell to Facebook in my workplace!
Source: www.employmentlawtoday.com (Facebook controversies arise in workplaces)
Very valid points Pedro, I also agree that it depends on the leniency of the workplace. Do you agree that Facebook being banned could also be dependent upon the nature of the work that is being done?
ReplyDeleteI agree. Very well articulated.
ReplyDeleteBut do you consider Colelge Unbound your work place? It's one thing to ignore Facebook while doing school work but have you every tried going "cold turkey" from Facebook for a while? It's extremely hard to overcome the temptations, but with out Facebook we live more personal lives with our friends and peers. We generally spend more time off of computers.
I can't really vouch too much about it because I do have a Facebook and I do use it. But for a while I wasn't and I have slowly been sparating my ties to it. It's a interesting concept.
We also managed to work before Facebook, so why do we need it now?
Just a thought.
Love your response to this, and I am also against the use of Facebook in the workplace. The Ontario government did a exceptional job with banning it from the workplace and we too should instead on pushing that in our workplace.
ReplyDeleteI do have a Facebook and I'll be the first to admit that it has become distracting, however, I just haven't had that enforcement more to say.