The question of access to social media during work is a dilemma present in the daily lives of many company managers: should they block access to networks and websites that distract and reduce productivity , or allow access to these systems, aiming for the well-being of employees? It's a difficult question to answer.
Allow access to social media?
Access to social media is the biggest contributor to wasted time at work. In Brazil, more than 90% of internet users have a profile on at least one social network, and research indicates that 72% of professionals access their social profiles during work. Although social networks are used by people of all ages, it is the younger generation that leads in usage, including in the workplace.
One thing young people should be aware of and concerned about is the fact that the work environment is for work, and spending too much time on social media is a time to rethink things, as this type of behavior can mean two things: either the professional is complacent and has no prospect of growth within the company, or they are very demotivated.
We know that today, with the large number of available networks, applications, and rapid access through numerous devices, access to social media can occur in a variety of ways. Therefore, managers must decide whether or not to allow access to social media; it's important to know your team and understand how this usage can influence productivity.
Companies can adopt liberal or more conservative policies, but certainly the most important point to consider and work on is the maturity of the team. In a mature, productive team committed to the company's results, it is possible to adopt a more flexible approach, allowing unrestricted access or access at specific times.
This is not recommended for teams lacking this level of maturity, as it will cause employees to lose even more focus on company activities and compromise results.
In this sense, we can conclude that the manager must seek solutions in both directions: develop methods to keep the team motivated, productive, and focused on the company's tasks and results, but at the same time implement an internet access policy according to the team's profile, blocking access to avoid wasted time and low productivity, if necessary.
Block access to social media?
If a manager believes that social media is a threat to their business and team because, in addition to harming productivity, it also facilitates and creates opportunities for viruses, ransomware , phishing , and other security problems.
In a situation like this, the ideal solution is to implement a system for managing and controlling internet access . However, the most important thing is to use common sense when setting the rules, as it is recommended to analyze the specific characteristics of your team and define access groups, implementing access rules according to the profile of the employees and the activities they perform, in a different way for each defined group.
For example, the sales department might use social media to prospect for clients, the HR department might search for information about professionals on networks like LinkedIn and even Facebook , but the rest of the team has no connection whatsoever between their work activities and access to social media.
In this scenario, the ideal would be to have unrestricted access to the sales area, controlled access at specific times for HR, and the rest of the team would have access blocked or, as an option, allowed during a specific break time.
Another important point is gathering information about internet usage. Having reports on what is being accessed and analyzing this information in conjunction with team productivity reports and task completion data can lead to the optimization of your internet access policy.
Try this experiment, with blocked and unblocked access, pay attention to the behavior of the employees, compare the results, and you will see how people are capable of surprising you, both positively and negatively.
Do you have any experiences or suggestions regarding blocking access to social media? Share them with us in the comments!
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