Distraction at work?

TIME SAVED

If you walk into office one fine day and find yourself unable to log in to Facebook, don’t be surprised.

The past six months have seen a wave of social networking sites being blocked in IT and other offices. The most common reason given has easily been the distraction caused by compulsive use of Facebook. “My office has had a Facebook ban for six months and it has helped me save time,” says Aiyappa SB, business development executive. He agrees that the lack of Facebook has indeed made his office hours more productive.

Sarath Asokan, senior technical analyst, Oracle who has lived without Facebook through most of his time in the company has a similar opinion. “Facebook works more as a distraction at work. It is something you use only out of personal interest besides a few discussions that involve work related issues,” he says.

More and more companies are resorting to blocking social networking sites in an attempt to limit employee focus on work and sometimes to avoid the leakage of sensitive and semi sensitive data that the company is dealing with. “A lot of information about work is usually shared on Facebook. This includes both sensitive data and office related gossip.

Blocking Facebook does prevent all of this,” says Marie Joe Kiran, software engineer at a voice telecom firm who has spent nearly a year without Facebook. “It doesn’t affect work. As Facebook is blocked on my computer, I spend time on a computer where I can access it a few times in the day. The truth is, when there is work, most people know how to prioritise any way,” he adds.

Blocking social networking sites increases productivity during work hours, but does the lack of information hinder daily functioning? “Facebook is hardly related to something professional. I handle social network marketing for my company but it is Twitter and LinkedIn I primarily deal with,” says Aiyappa.

Neha Singh, who works in an advertising firm does admit that Facebook can sometimes form a large part of work. “I do miss Facebook and agree that it helps in building networks. But after a year of working without it, I think it makes you more productive.

You can concentrate and think only about work. It is then that your talent shows,” she says.