Is Colleague Procrastination Costing You?

Controlling an office full of employees is never an easy task. The best bosses may be all seeing, but that isn’t always possible. Despite your best efforts, you can never be in all places at once. As such, it’s impossible to keep an eye on what your colleagues are up to at all times. You may think you have the best team going, but are you sure they aren’t wasting company time? Even top-notch colleagues can be guilty of this crime. It may not even be that they don’t want to do the work. But, procrastination is always calling, and the internet makes it all too easy. The good news is, there are steps you can take to ensure no one’s browsing your money away.

Block Sites

The best way to control internet use is to block access to distracting sites. Of course, there are an endless number of websites on which colleagues could waste time. The good news is, there are plenty of companies out there which allow you to restrict usage. Better, you’ll receive a notification if someone tries to access restricted sites. Of course, blocking every site out there is a long-winded way of doing things. It may be better only to allow access to sites you know your colleagues need. Major distraction areas include Youtube and social media, so make sure these are on the no-go list!

Make Allowances

Sometimes, you may need to make allowances to the blockage you set in place. For one, the boss should have access to any site they want, right? It may also be the case that certain colleagues need access to sites you’ve banned for others. In that situation, you could turn to something like this YouTube proxy site with SSL.Working around a block you’ve put in place may seem a strange way of doing things. But, it’s sometimes the best way to get around the issue. Though, keep this under wraps. You don’t want your colleagues finding out about sites like this and using them to their advantage! Of course, nothing’s to stop them discovering these cheats on their own. That’s why it’s worth reassessing your blocks every few months. You need to make sure they’re still in place!

Set Clear Rules

Blockages aside, your colleagues may not realize that you don’t want them accessing sites like these during company time. If you haven’t said otherwise, they may not see the problem with browsing the net when they have no work on. Setting clear rules in place is the best way to avoid such confusion. After all, you can’t shout at colleagues for doing something they didn’t know was against your rules. It may be worth entering a clause about this in the contracts you hand out. Write down a list of allowed websites, then outline the banned ones. That way, you can ensure you’re both on the same footing. Plus, it means you have more of a leg to stand on if someone does misuse your connection.