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Subject:Re: ADMIN: New Poll Question From:TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:24:31 -0500
My take as a manager:
I'd like to separate reading lists like this one from general web
browsing. There's a big difference, and each has its own benefits and
drawbacks.
I encourage my team to join professional mailing lists, if not to
contribute, then at least to lurk. Lists like these provide good
insight into what other companies are doing around the globe. It's a
good way of keeping current on trends, and even in seeing what the
competition is up to.
Taking "time out of work" to read discussions is OK in my book. It can
be considered research and professional networking. These are good
things.
Sure, there are drawbacks. People could use the lists as a means of
changing jobs, or people could get hung up in trivial matters (like
this, IMO) and take more time away from their projects than necessary.
Really it's all about balance.
I also don't mind if someone spends 30 minutes around lunchtime to
look into vacation planning, so long as the time is made up in the
work day. I do have a problem with people online all the time,
checking sports scores, reading the news, and doing other blatant
non-work stuff. My team is generally good about how they budget their
time online, so I have no worries, but I do have to cough up an "ahem"
every once in a while, though this is no different than someone
chatting it up in an office or in the hall for a good length of time.
True, many salaried employees are "exempt" and don't necessarily
conform to a 8 hour, regimented work day. In my company, many people
put in over 40 hours a week on their own in order to ensure they do a
good job and deliver quality product. If they take some time out of
the day to do some non-work stuff now and then, it's not a cause for
concern because I know the work's getting done and the time "off"
obviously does something to recharge their batteries.
However, if I see a regular "9-to-5-er" spending time on non-work
stuff, I indeed have a talk with the person.
On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 19:06:47 +0000, Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> wrote:
>
> One thing that I'm not clear on, however, and would like to ask the list
> generally: Is saying that you're paid for results or that keeping up
> with the profession a rationale (meaning a line of logic that you have
> developed on your own)? Or is this reasoning accepted by whoever you
> report to?
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