LifeHacker | IM Can Reduce Workplace Interruptions, Study Shows

It has always driven me crazy that so many workplace IT departments block various web pages deemed as harmful to productivity. My philosophy is:

• If I'm using too much bandwidth, reprimand me
• If I'm not doing my job, reprimand me

Otherwise, trust me to be an adult and do my job. Who are you to say what web sites I might need to do my job? At my previous job, we used GTalk all the time for legitimate work purposes (In addition to non-work purposes) before they blocked it. Dozens of times I've been researching a work problem and come up against a blocked website.

I spend A LOT of time on the computer. Too much, some might say. And some of it is time spent at work on non-work things. I freely admit this. But I get my job done. Sometimes, GTalk helps me do that. Sometimes some sketchy-looking forum helps me do that. Sometimes Google Documents helps me do that. And sometimes I just want to putz around on eBay for fifteen minutes to clear my head.

I think if employers started worrying more about actual employee productivity than micromanaging internet access, we'd all be a lot better off.