Over a decade ago, when I was working with an Indian IT Services organization, the company prohibited use of social media (read Orkut) and external emails on the office computers. The company also tracked the use of access card to get data for attendance of the employees.
The result?
My peers used a variety of proxies to bypass the restrictions. I remember having many proxy links to log into Orkut and my web mails. When the company would block one, some one would share a new one to use. When people went on a leave, they would pass on the access card to let the other person swipe it and save a few days of leave here and there. Since then I have wondered what’s the point of all that control?
Did you know that some companies let you stream media? On the office wi-fi, you can even listen to songs. But how many people would do that? Would they even have the time to watch a movie at the cost of not delivering?
When I stumbled on this article, I realized that I was not the only one wondering on the topic.
This New York-based startup , Rocketrip works on the foundation of trusting employees. It believes that most employees will opt to save companies money if they are incentivized to do so. If an employee chooses to go under budget, they get gift cards as rewards. It’s like sharing the savings with the employee when the company saves.
What this does in return?
Earns trust from the employees. They do what is best for the company knowing that they will be incentivized.
This is similar to the concept that Laszlo Bock talks about in his book Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. If employees start thinking like employers in their own area of work, companies would have people who will own up mistakes and do what is the best for business.
Does your company trust its employees? Do you feel they try to control you or you have the freedom that you think you deserve?
Writing for #MicroblogMondays -199 (sorry it’s not a microblog) and Monday Musings today.
happiness and food 
This is such an interesting point of discussion, Parul. I think if a company offers free wifi and internet for employees, then they might expect the very best from employees. Surfing the web leisurely and checking personal emails every now and then can be the break that we need from work and keep us going. That said, I’m not one to use my work’s wifi for my own personal use. What I’m looking at online can be tracked as you mentioned, and I am the kind who does not like the every move tracked by whom I work for. What a company knows about me can be used against me. Also what you produce on your employer’s computers is arguably theirs and their copyright – they provide the resources, you create, and the work is rightfully theirs. Thank you for sharing this article. It really is a very insightful topic 🙂
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I think it’s a relative concept and people are divided on this topic. It’s about trust. I’m sure some employees can understand the concept but there are others who might take it to a different level. Flexible hours is another concept where employees have complete freedom as to how many hours they want to devote in office. Ultimately, they are judged on only one parameter – results!
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This is interesting! I my hospital’s case, I think it is more about protection vs trusting employees. Much of what we do involves using computer applications, so everyone has access. But there is also a huge problem with having someone click on a link that compromises the system. So our IT department is constantly working to stave off threats and fix pcs that have been infected or running slow. The periodicly block sites that are causing issues but it’s a never ending thing.
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I have always loved this idea. Restrictions bring more curiosity. It happened in mine too. Earlier we always learned more on proxy servers to access our websites and also Orkut. Once the company allowed free streaming, we hardly had the curiosity to visit. We just browsed for what we really needed, though at times, we saw movies 😘
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Completely agree. Both companies I worked for earlier didn’t put any restrictions on internet and social media. I think, employers should allow all these but be strict on their daily work deliverables. This teaches responsibility for employees and helps in retaining employees.
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Reminds me of my early days in IT. We weren’t even allowed to listen to ipods back then. Some projects were better, but never had access to anything except Google.
It’s different here. You can access anything except for some really restricted sites. Provides a more open and carefree environment.
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Oh I hated the control when I was working. At the ToI we’d have to swipe in and out. We had a bunch of boys who’d swipe in, work for a while then walk off. Somedays they’d come by late at night and swipe out. The thing is people who want to get around the rules always will, while the ones who are conscientious will anyway adhere to them – so where’s the point of so many restrictions? Trust is really important.
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I have worked in both kind of setups – one where the swipe ins and swipe outs were tracked daily, mailing reports to departmental heads for even 1 or 2 minutes late entry and others where the employes were free to come in, go out as per their wish, take breaks as long as their work stayed unaffected. Since I am all for rules, I was fine in both kind of setups and controls.
What I can’t bear is controlling behaviour in family life. I have broken free of many such controls.
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I worked in a company where they wouldn’t even show mobile phones inside and another which casted nothing of you downloaded movies on their broadband. Since I anyway follow rules it didn’t matter much but I definitely prefer rules which constrict less. I have also seen employees who misuse extra leeway given to them. So I guess it’s a double edged sword.
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While trust over control is a good idea and seems more acceptable, but then the deliverables and bottom line is likely to suffer there too. People who are honest and practice integrity will practice it any way. But the other category will always remain a challenge. Trust and empowerment may convert a few of them and thats the hope that I see in your write-up
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I guess what you say sounds like an ideal situation but just as there are people who will be honest, there will also be that other category of people who will do anything on the contrary to take undue advantage of the resources that are made available to them at work. I’ve seen these people at close quarters and know why sometimes trust issues can go really haywire at the workplace because of a handful of folks who are unscrupulous. Nonetheless, the rewards are a great retention strategy at times of attrition and I totally see your point. Trust over controls always remains a very tricky issue with most organisations.
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This post made me think a bit. Mabel Kwong summed up my thoughts well. I think there needs to be a balance of trust and control – don’t trust completely blindly and don’t be a control freak.
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We had such restrictions in our office when I was working. But as you said people always found a way around to get them working. Our team manager went one step further and got the access of internal messenger blocked on all our systems. Guess what, we found the fix without him knowing. I don’t like too many controlling rules. People like I work better with trust than control.
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