Comments on: IT pays the price for your fun at work

Not surprisingly, many people are e-mailing friends, watching YouTube videos, and writing on Facebook during work hours, and IT departments are paying the price cleaning up viruses and spyware, survey finds.

[zizzybaloobah]

If organizations would simply make Firefox (or Opera) their standard browser, a lot of this hassle could be eliminated. But they are not wholly without blame - the alternative browsers really need to come up with the enterprise management features that organizations need in order to make the switch.

[Vegaman_Dan]

The choice of browser does nothing to stop people from wasting their time with going to Facebook/YouTube/Twitter/eBay/etc in the first place.

[skillingssucks]

The article isn't about "wasting time"!

[jrichview]

These kinds of articles completely ignore that we're talking about human beings, not robots. Human beings cannot be expected to stay 100% on task during an entire 8 hour work day. They have other needs . When companies try to micro-manage employees days with an iron fist they actually create LESS productivity than if they allowed people to be people.

[dcase99]

Ok, then you fix your own computer when it becomes clogged with malware, spyware and viruses. IT departments have better things to do that become diaper moms to foolish behavior.

[compudoc318]

you are the same idiot who gets fired from a nice job cause youre addicted to myspace......

[kriskaido]

I absolutely agree. Bad article. There's no balance with the (huge) benefit of fun at work.

[Stefaninafla]

IMO, companies really do need to invest in good solid computer use and safe access training. It is not realistic to try to prevent people from taking care of personal business at work, since many services we need (doctor's offices, banks, child care, child's school) are only open during "standard business hours".
Before computers, it was the phone being used to take care of personal stuff during business hours. Trying to stop the behavior is useless, the only thing companies can really do is teach their employees online safety.

[brian.lee]

Maybe they should just unplug the whole business and go back to the days of photo copy memos and type writers. How about no more BB's... I wouldn't mind giving mine up.

[tacit]

I manage the IT department for the company where I work. We have a mix of Mac and PC systems. The PC systems have these problems (in fact, last time I was on vacation, my vacation was interrupted because a user had inadvertently downloaded a virus from a hacked Web site he'd been browsing); the Mac systems don't.

Everyone is resistant to replacing Windows computers with Macs, and of course the IT industry is filled with all sorts of dire warnings about the awful consequences of using Macs and all the reasons Macs can't be used in business. I've found those to be bunk, and have discovered that almost all PC users in our business get along just fine with Macs.

Folks claim that Macs are more expensive than PCs, but those folks don't factor in downtime and lost productivity due to viruses and malware. When you factor those in, the Macs come out to be cheaper--and not just a little bit cheaper, a lot cheaper. Plus I can go on vacation without spending hours on the phone walking people through their virus problems.

[raleighboy]

Hey Tacit,
It all boils down to perspective.. I've been working in IT industry since 9 years exclusively on windows and never once have I seen my network or sys admin having had to clean up because of a user downloading a virus. You are talking as if the only job for a windows admin is to clean up malware!..
From my [and the users of the 4 companies I worked for 9 years], windows systems are rock solid.. [Provided you keep up with the Microsoft patches and follow good browsing habits]

[Vegaman_Dan]

Sounds like you need better control over your systems if you are allowing end users to affect the systems to that level. You may want to solicit for more power over the network and its components to get that control to eliminate the issues.

I'm curious with hardware repairs and downtime with the Mac and PC. As Apple will not authorize anyone to work on their systems outside of their service center, how do you deal with the unavoidable downtime that results from having to send the systems to them? Or do you just work on it yourself and hope Apple doesn't learn about it and void the warranty? I know with Dell/Toshiba/HP/Lenovo/Acer/etc.. .you can be OEM certified and work on the systems right tjhere on site and have a downtime of nearly zero if you have the parts on hand, or overnight if you have to order them. With Apple you are looking at 5-7 business days at the earliest.

This sort of downtime for hardware issues (and hardware fails regardless of brand name) is one of the reasons that keeps Apple out of the corporate world in a wide deployment. If Apple would allow others to service their systems, they could really help their adoption I think, but that would also mean releasing control over the money they could make on that same service.

It's a tricky situation.

[rdnetto]

Windows is fine if its configured correctly. Do that, and the only people who would be able to do any real harm are the ones smart enough not to do so (accidentally). But I can't stand the claim that Macs are better than PCs. People say that Microsoft is anticompetitive, but Apple bundles the entire computer as a single, locked down device. If you're going to advocate a non-Windows OS, try Linux sometime. Completely free, far fewer viruses, and a surprising level of support for Windows applications (e.g. Mono).

[Im-Not-TED]

JOB! I have a JOB! As long as the IT illiterate continue to SPAM, SPY, and MAL-ware themselves into a state of non-production, IT employees will be called upon to "FIX THIS @##$". So, the work "ain't sexy", but eating and paying the mortgage is sexy.

What?s my point, actually I have three . . .
1- It is called WORK for a reason
2- Stop your WHINNING and be glad you can pay the rent
3- If you do not like the work, quit, I can hire someone who will not whine before you can clean your desk

[inachu]

I had a co worker who demanded her dancing java bears be allowed on her pc because of her thrombosis.
Well her dancing bears were not compatible with the version of java we use at work.
So she installed the latest one that broke our in house java apps then she complained she could not get any work done after I fixed it by removing the dancing bears. She reisntalled the bears and started the process all over again and said I did not fix the problem. I refused to talk to her ever again.

[Zeeshan47]

You? Hiring someone? I'd fire you before I'd let someone with such a lack of a grasp of the English language be in a position to hire someone. Focal words of a sentence should not be capitalized for emphasis, and "whining" has the letter n only twice, not thrice.

As for your actual argument, workers can be held just as responsible for the amount of work they are expected to do if you macro-manage. In fact, they gain perspective on the importance and impact of the work they perform, and they perform it with greater zeal, knowing well that their name is linked to their work(or lack thereof). Most successful large businesses(with the exception of IBM) realize that they want humans at the helm, not monkeys.

[badmojo42]

@ tacit - perhaps maybe you should take away the local admin rights from your users Windows machines... You manage an IT department, but sound more like a Mac fan boy. PC's are safe when you take the time to set them up correctly. I can't remember the last time we had a system outage due to a virus outbreak. The only people who have problems are the ones who have admin rights to their computers. you take that away, and the problems go away. sure they might complain they cannot install something, but they should know this is a work computer not their home computer.

[Wookiee-1138]

Perhaps mandating all non work-related surfing be done with a program like Zonealarm Forcefield would be a worthwhile expense.

Of course, trying to ban leisure surfing entirely would probably result in general dissatisfaction and unhappiness in workers.

[inachu]

My own mandates for my building I support is:
No third party application allowed on computers no matter if english is not your native language.
Many of these sites hosting tools to read non english makes you download tained programs or has advertising that forces downloads/installs they did not ask for.

Also banned at my building any major league sport website especially if they are based off of FANTASY SPORTS.
Also banned are instant messengers. If you want to use instant messaging then use the free online java versions.
Anything else found on a pc and it will be formatted asap.

[sythara]

that one works really well actually.

[biffhenerson]

Conducting personal business on business time is nothing new. How many times per day does your spouse call? Ever swipe any ink pens? Now we have computers. Big deal. Nothing has changed in the policy. Warn them, then fire their *****. Simple. No problem. You only have to do it once and the others will fall in line.

[compudoc318]

the same people will continue to destroy their cpus with viruses and waste time, then when it is forced into something like websence, i.t. is the bad guy. i love that where i work, you do this once, its a warning, twice.......goodbye...lol. go surf myspace in the unemployement line!

[ideagrrl]

My solution to this problem (granted, we are not the largest company around, we have an IT staff of two and six locations on a WAN)

1. no admin access for users
2. a written network access policy signed by all employees that clearly spells out what they can and can't do on our system (with exceptions granted by supervisors on a case by case basis)
3. Terminal servers are locked down through GPO, and web traffic on those servers is limited to company web sites via proxy server.

The admin before me let anyone do whatever they wanted and gave user full admin access to all workstations, the result was one very high maintainance system. When I explained this to the owner of the company, he fully supported my position. The end result is a very trouble-free network that sees very little of the problems mentioned here.

[TheWizardKs]

I am the CIO of a small hospital and I have issues with these kinds of reports. Yes employees check emails at work. Yes they will shop some. But how much? It seems the time using these things is completely missing in this report. Why are we so alarmed? Yes you can lock the network down and not have as many problems for your IT staff. But the price the company pays is not being fully considered. How many of you in IT work 55 minutes non stop per hour for 8 hours? Don't lie to me because I know the answer. I've been working on computers for over 30 years. What about employee morale, loyalty, dedication? I'll take the occasional downtime to fix a computer knowing full well that when my employees are working, they are working with full conviction. Sure places like facebook and myspace are justifiable to be blocked (as they are here) but most sites are not. Just because you heard it from some Professor does not necessarily mean it is gospel. 34 incidents per month? That is completely useless information unless the sizes of the organizations is included. With 2 techs here it is obvious it does not apply. Checks and balances produce the best results. Continue the trend of locking things down like a prison and soon you have inmates doing your labor.

[stlwest]

After years of getting raises that approximate the rate of inflation many employees are not on the full conviction bandwagon. Yes, the new employee will work hard to get ahead but once the incentive to work harder is taken away, when real wages are stagnant and employees feel like hired hands then you get mediocracy. I think this is why some companies in America just don't compete and have to be helped out by government just due to thier size and negative impact on the economy if they were left to die.

I'm not even an Obama supporter but I believe this is why Obama is ahead in the polls. Working Americans have lost trust in the upper crust to let them in on the action when the company does well. Companies have taken all the benefits of productivity gains and on average leave employees with about what they made last year + the rate of inflation.

Only when the economy is really bubbling do people feel any power to negotiate with employers. People should stand up for themselves though and say I want pay + profit, if the company does well I want stock and stock options.

It should almost be a law that a certain percentage of profit must be allocated to employees, say 10%. Then another law would be that you can not pay yourself and your buddies on the board more than 20 times your average employee salary (not including board members) This would create an incentive for board members to get average salaries up, the more they pay the more they can pay themselves.

[bruceslog]

All users should interface via a Live CD.
All company Apps and databases on the server side, LiveCD not allowed to access server side OS changes, only allowed to access needed programs for Work and updating databases.

Specialized client side software on server only.
Prevents your hundreds of user work stations from getting boinked by malware.
And makes it easier to lock down system via server side only apps and data.

Anybody else working on that one yet ?