Access to social media and messaging apps during work is a dilemma faced daily by many managers and IT professionals in companies. Some argue that blocking access to these sites reduces employee well-being, while others believe that allowing access hinders productivity.
The truth is that it's a difficult question to answer precisely, after all, there are diverse employee profiles within companies, and also areas where any distraction can cause major problems for the company.
Throughout this article, you will see the benefits of blocking and allowing access to websites such as Facebook , Instagram , WhatsApp , and Telegram , which are widely used during work hours in companies, and also an efficient way to manage internet access in the corporate environment.
Social networks and messaging apps
Access to social media is the biggest contributor to wasted time at work. In Brazil, 96% of internet users use messaging apps daily and 97% use social media daily, according to the We Are Social 2020 .
This doesn't even include entertainment apps, games, shopping, music, and dating, which account for smaller percentages but still consume users' time and attention daily.
Another alarming statistic is that, according to the research , internet users spend an average of 9 hours and 17 minutes daily connected to their smartphones. This represents a large part of their day, and certainly a large portion of their working hours.
Therefore, believing that the internet in the corporate environment brings only benefits is a big mistake.
Allow access to social media and messaging apps?
It's inevitable that some employees will access social media and messaging apps during work hours. Therefore, it's up to the manager to decide whether or not to allow access to this type of content. However, it's important to know your team and understand how this usage can influence productivity.
Companies can adopt liberal or more conservative policies, but they should always consider the maturity of the team. With a mature, productive team committed to the company's results, it is possible to adopt a more flexible approach, allowing access without total restrictions or specific time limits.
Conversely, allowing immature teams access to social media and messaging apps will cause them to lose even more focus on company activities and compromise results.
In this sense, we can conclude that the manager should seek balanced solutions and develop methods to motivate the team, implementing, for example, an internet access policy according to the team's profile, blocking specific accesses to avoid wasting time and low productivity.
Is blocking internet access important?
In addition to impacting team productivity and focus, unlimited access to social media and messaging apps poses a digital security risk, as it creates opportunities for viruses, ransomware, phishing, and other internet security issues.
In situations like this, it is important to implement a system for managing and controlling internet access , preventing access to websites considered harmful (present on various social networks) from being accessed on the company's network.
However, blocking everything for all teams can backfire. It's essential to analyze the specific characteristics of your team and define access groups, implementing distinct access rules for each group according to the profile of the employees, the activities they perform, or specific departments.
The sales department, for example, can use social media to prospect for clients. The HR department, on the other hand, can search for information about professionals on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Another important point is to gather information about internet usage by observing reports of what is being accessed and optimizing the company's internet access policy.
Note that allowing and blocking access are not necessarily distinct and polarized policies. A balance between allowing access to social networks and messaging applications, and blocking access during certain periods, can be achieved to promote the well-being of the team as well as the productivity and results of the company.
How do you control internet access in a company?
There are numerous internet access control tools for businesses available on the market today. Some are more robust and complex, requiring more technical knowledge; others are specific to certain functionalities with payment in foreign currency; and still others are geared towards small and medium-sized businesses, with a user-friendly and intuitive interface and payment in local currency (R$), as is the case with Lumiun Box .
Seeking to facilitate the complete internet management process for companies, we have developed the Internet Access Control Guide for Businesses . The material brings together various information and characteristics about the task, as well as a step-by-step guide to implementing an efficient access policy that meets the company's needs.
The material is free; you can download it whenever you want and also share it with colleagues and friends.
If you are implementing access rules in your company, try this experiment: pay attention to employee online behavior, compare results, and see how managing internet access can help the company grow.
Until later!
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