Personal use of internet at work.

[MarianneSolong]

Can I just ask people what policies they have in place re any personal use of internet in the workplace.

Is it a complete no? Or is very limited, occasional use - i.e. not hours on social media, Mumsnet - left up to individual discretion, provided people are working hard, doing what need to be done.

It's come up as an issue in my workplace, and obviously it will vary place to place - but am just interested in what goes on for other Mumsnetters.

Unlimited

I occasionally use it at lunchtime for personal stuff but I don't have time other than that as pretty much always against the clock. I'm also aware that I am probably being monitored so I'm pretty much whiter than whiter. I don't use company email for personal stuff at all.

Ours is fairly relaxed, dinner time and a quick pop on now and then but anyone caught spending hours shopping are normally spoken to and I too have had to have a word with a member of my team about the constant social media use whilst at work.

it doesn't matter what everyone else's internet policy is, OP. yours has caused enough concern to be mentioned at your appraisal.

i would take the hint and not go on the internet. otherwise, you might find yourself without a workplace at all.

I think I am more concerned about lack of internal consistency if that makes sense.

For example one member of staff had a recent England football match on a PC in a public area throughout the afternoon, and had colleagues gathering round watching it - with people only breaking off to deal with customer enquiries. But they was the most senior member of staff and it was the football so that was okay.

I've observed other colleagues shopping online, checking holiday websites etc.

But if I check a news website for, say 30 seconds, this appears not to be okay.

So it's puzzling.

I've looked at the written policies to check there isn't a blanket ban other than in break times- there isn't, limited personal use is permissible - although it is clear that if use of the internet for non-work policies is regarded as discretionary and can be regarded as open to abuse.

What's been useful is seeing just how various different workplace policies can be.

As was pointed out to a colleague in a former workplace, there's a big difference about personal use as well as doing your work, and personal use instead of doing your work, and most policies tend to focus on that.

Officially it's only to be used for work purposes and some websites are blocked, however due to the nature of our work social media, review sites, news sites etc. are available. I'm fairly laid back about it with my team , as long as the day job gets done and they dont take the piss I don't Rory a it the odd online order, choking bank account, FB check in etc. During our busy periods I'd reign it in if necessary but we're all adults and generally people have a sensible approach to it. Ditto with mobile phone use.

No idea what Rory a is? worry about it!

Reasonably unrestricted at my workplace, anything non-NSFW appears to be accessible. I work in a call center that is sometimes insanely busy and sometimes deathly quiet. If there are no calls waiting and we have no admin to do (there's not a lot of it so most of us do it in between calls) we're allowed to look at the news, research holidays, read a book, or play on our phones. The trade off for that is that on a busy day you barely get a chance to go for a wee never mind take a break. Seems fair to me.

The official policy at my last workplace was that personal Internet use was only allowed outside of work hours (so at lunch time or before / after you were officially working), and nothing that might bring the company into disrepute allowed. Although IT blocked most social media and Internet mail sites as some people were spending too much time on those at work.

In practice, people would get away with limited personal use in work time as long as they were still getting their work done and weren't taking the piss.

But as a pp said, other people's Internet policies aren't really relevant to your situation. The policy at your workplace sounds inconsistent and I can see how you'd feel unfairly singled out, but as its been raised at an appraisal I'd personally stop all personal Internet use for now.

It does seem unfair, BUT as others have said, it's been highlighted at your appraisal and the fact everyone else gets away with it, is sadly irrelevant. Use your phone (subtly) to access the internet from now on. I know of someone who lost their job for inappropriate internet use and all he was doing was checking news sites, but it sounded like he'd been downloading porn, the way the dismissal was worded.

I work in a University and we need the internet all the time to look things up, for research etc.

Our official policy is "don't take the piss" - I don't think they'd mind the odd check of the news or social media as long as you weren't sat on it all day.

To be quite honest at my current and past 2 workplaces it's been relaxed - as long as you get your work done they don't mind the odd 5 minutes here and there as well as at lunchtime. However we also have a lunch room where we're encouraged to eat lunch so you can't exactly eat at your desk and internet surf then either!

I've worked at an office where certain sites are banned and even certain times, you just get used to it.

Certain people in my current office never use the internet ever as they were told they were monitored... but since others have started using it they now occasionally look on news sites etc. A lot of older people don't have Facebook though.

Mine is relaxed. As long as I get the job done nobody cares what websites I use. Though I do hide MN because I don't want people thinking I'm pregnant!

Sadly I agree with SlowJinn. It's obviously unfair but you have to listen to what was said in your appraisal, even if others haven't been pulled up on it.