Net Etiquette

The Internet is something that I've grown up with all my life and is often my preferred method of communication with a lot of friends. At work, though, it plays a far lesser role at my current job since our office has only a few people and most employees work out in the field. Nonetheless, as an office and field person myself, I see the abuse and potential abuse of the technology on a daily basis.

In fact, at my job last year for a University, I saw the effect of web surfing, e-mailing, and instant messaging on the workforce there and the corresponding productivity. As a supervisor, it was fine line since many times, people in the office were volunteering their time or staying after their normal work hours to finish homework or wait until a meeting. Still, it does not negate the fact that such activities can be distracting to others and tax the resources of the network and computing services, especially with a limited number of available computers.

A couple of times, office policies were considered and some were put into place. When someone is on the clock, using instant messenger is inappropriate in a single-location office setting like my past work environment. While potentially useful for conferencing, especially with global contacts, it is out of place when all the employees are within the same series of rooms. E-mail can be a sensitive topic, but it is often quite clear what pertains to work and what can be saved for another time.

Perhaps the most cut-and-dried category is personal web surfing since it is so easy seen by others on the screen. For an organization that served the public and often had students and faculty members stopping by, it was an issue that was clearly dealt with as something inappropriate for work times. During evening hours when the office was used for hanging out, it was a different story, but it was made clear to all users of the office that it was necessary to project a professional appearance.

Finally, when not everyone has access to a computer or when printing capacity is limited, a policy was put in place that the most critical tasks were to be put ahead of less important tasks and especially any kind of personal computer use. In an environment where not every computer has all the software or all the hardware available, it is simply necessary to budget these resources wisely.