Do you use the internet for personal use at work?

[Godslittleangel]

we have a RN at work who just sits at the computer and surfs the net, looking up celebrity gossip, wedding stuff, or whatever. She does her charting, and will go give meds or fix ivs but she never looks hapy about it and gets mad when we mention to her that a patient wants to see her for meds or whatever. She is so lazy its rediculous, I've seen lazy people but she is hte worst one. She had a nurse aide run down to the pharmacy dummy to get a med that she was waiting for and needed quickly. Now me and hte other aide were in other rooms and the aide just got out of her room and the meds were sitting in the dummy for awhile. this nurse could have gotten up herslef to get it but she just had the other aide run and get it while she still surfted the net. There was a couple of other instances that were serious that she didn't help due to being lazy but I'm amazed she is still working there. But this is what I"m against in internet use at work, is people not doing their job, personal internet usage is more important to them and they don't do thier job.

I do use it but my job as a cna comes first, so I will answer lights, do hourly rounds, and walks with the patients, load stock, personal usage ocmes only when there is free time and nothing else to do. But I log off when a light goes on or I need to help a nurse or time to help a patient to a chair or walk.

I don't mind it as long as it doesn't get in the way of their job, if they get their jobs done and have free time. Butif a person abuses it, and doesn't get thier work done, then it should be blocked on their computer.

[EastTexasGal]

But what will the illegal Mexican aliens....I mean, poor undocumented migrant workers....do if I take their job???

Or....what will the union do when I do a union member's job?

[Dani H]

I work from home and pay for my own internet use, I use my own computer that I paid for, and my work is production based, meaning I only get paid for the actual work I do ... so ... yea. I take breaks at my own discretion and they certainly don't cost my employer anything.

Having said that, I think you can have integrity in your work performance without being a complete stickler about things. If it's your employer's choice to give you more freedom and use their paid-for internet access for personal use, then work within their parameters and you're fine, as long as you do your job and do it well. Internet usage at work is really an employer/employee matter and so not a one-size-fits-all situation by any means.

[sadeissa]

I work from home and pay for my own internet use, I use my own computer that I paid for, and my work is production based, meaning I only get paid for the actual work I do ... so ... yea. I take breaks at my own discretion and they certainly don't cost my employer anything.

I manage a team of virtual employees from different parts of the world. What Dani H said applies to us in a way that we use a tracking tool in each one's computers so I will still be able to monitor their work hours and activities during the time they are doing their job.

If they decide to use the internet for personal matters, they could always take breaks. After all, in the 8 hours that we are required to work every day, we need to refresh ourselves by doing some personal stuff over the web. The key here is to not abuse it though. Everyone still needs to have that discipline when working.

[lovex]

I don't think it is an issue if you are not letting it consume all the hours in your day. I think checking your e-mail things like that for maybe 10 minutes shouldn't harm you, but if your playing farm-ville all day or chatting with your friends and neglecting your work, then I definitely don't think you should be using the internet for anything other than work.

At my work, there isn't any time for down time really. I am a teacher for children with disabilities so it is very hard to take my eyes off one of them for even a second (they can do a lot in a matter of a minute) . Being really focused and motivated to concentrate on what the Lord has placed in front of you is good, very good... but if you feel your about to loose it from working on the computer all day, then I say to take a rest for a few minutes.

[John 8:32]

It's easy to band about terms like that but if the nature of the work is such that you're not working on an endless stream of tasks with no time between them it falls down. It also falls down unless you also want to claim that a smoker popping out for a 5-minute cigarette break is stealing time, or that taking a full lunch hour is stealing time. Heck, you could claim that listening to the radio was stealing time as it's a distraction from what you're being paid to do.

If someone was surfing the net for personal stuff and not getting the work done I'd agree with you 100%. But in an age where working hours are often blurred (especially when people are paid to work 40 hours but often end up working 45 or more for no extra money) I don't think it's sensible to regard 15 minutes here and there as stealing time.

Since most of the projects we do here are pretty much deadline driven, as long as the work is complete and accurate, the time is flexible. I also work through lunch and after hours when necessary. (I am salaried, so no extra compensation for that time - thought I would head that one off before it got started).

[svfox]

I was a horrible employee at work.
But the funny thing is they got so much luck while I was there and when I left they all had bad luck.
I even wanted to get fired but she told me, 'I'm going to make you do some work if it kills me."
I just hated getting up in the morning. But at night I would come up with good ideas that turned out to be winners.
But mostly I see it now. By being a good employee and putting in your work you glorify God and God can use that to draw others to him.
People will wonder what makes you work so hard.
In my case I can say I failed miserably at this test. In fact I have failed all my tests from God.