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[Esav Benyamin]

Web-surfing worker can't be fired ​

Saying surfing the Web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet.

Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work.

Awww ... that's New York City for ya. The rest of you, shut it off & GO BACK TO WORK !!!

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I'm moving to New York!

 

[ErikD]

I'm moving to New York!

Its not all its cracked up to be. We actually DO have to work at least one hour of an eight hour shift.

 

[digdeep]

What is not clear is whether he was surfing on company time or on his breaks. If on company time then the ruling makes no sense. Taxpayer money to enable the workers to surf the internet all day?

 

[Cougar Allen]

It ought to be clear enough -- he "visited several news and travel sites" while on the job, and as the administrative judge pointed out, nobody else works every minute of the time they're on the job either. Let he who has never glanced at the news or said, "What do you think of this weather?" on the phone at the office cast the first stone.

 

[Mike G]

I'm moving to New York!

You allegedly work for the federal government.

What the hell are you bitching about?

You used to brag about how much time you spent surfing at work, before you got this 'top secret' job that required you to 'go to school' for 9 months.

:jerkit:

 

[Michael Dye]

Interesting figures for those of us that "work all the time"
If you do not "work" 7.5 minutes every hour of an 8 hour work day, then you have "not worked" 1 hour per day....5 hours per week, and 250 hours per year (assuming you get 2 weeks vacation), or a little over 6 weeks per year...but got paid! If your employer pays you just $6.00/hr, you beat him out of 1500.00 per year in gross pay. Of course, same math applies if you hang over a few minutes per day, actually working...then the boss come out good. Time is $$

 

[silenthunterstudios]

You used to brag about how much time you spent surfing at work, before you got this 'top secret' job that required you to 'go to school' for 9 months.

:jerkit:

Brag? I made jokes about it. I think I've gotten over that now, BTW. IT is cracking down hard. Wanna make jokes, fine, I can take that. Don't attack my integrity.

Top secret? C'mon, recognize a laughing smiley when you see one.

 

[Ron Andersen]

For me, I've estimatee that in each work day, on average, I "waste" about one hour on non work-related activities (such as phone, lunch, internet, newspaper, etc.). But, I still do put in a "full day." I'm usually on-site for 9-12 hours, almost always bring work home to do after the kids go to bed, and bring home hours worth of work for the weekends. 55-70 hour weeks are the norm.

On most workplace related topics, I've always believed in the trickledown principle. In this case, modeling good work ethics for my employees is critical. That's part of the reason I'm the first to arrive and the last to leave, along with keeping these "personal" tasks to a bare minimum. But, I'm not perfect and don't expect perfection.

Depending on the type of work someone performs, there will always be time spent on non-work activities. I've always tried to have a good balance between maximizing the amount of work I get out of my employees while giving them enough freedom to keep them happy in their job. If my employees allow me to be a macromananger (basically them being on auto pilot, getting their work done without much intervention), I'm happy. But some require differing amounts of on-the-job "parenting"...in other words, keeping them off the internet and doing their work. What's awful are those employees who feel the internet is their "right" while on the job!

On this topic, "cyber-slacking" has to be one of my most favorite workplace-related terms.