Controlling employee access

The average person does not dedicate their workday exclusively to work-related activities. People are not machines and need to take breaks. This is a necessity for clearing one's mind and being able to return to work with greater efficiency. As highlighted in your Lecture Notes, if you treat employees like machines, it can be a detriment to their physical and psychological health. However, the onset and accessibility of the Internet has invariably increased the number of ‘breaks' employees take. Chances are you may even be surfing the Web as you participate in this Discussion.

To try and mitigate the excessive use of the Internet, some employers will control employee access by blocking certain sites and monitoring employee usage of computer resources. For this Discussion, compare the advantages and disadvantages of these methods and evaluate their effectiveness. Considering the potential repercussions of these methods (e.g. affecting employee morale), would it be better instead to measure an employee's performance in terms of productivity?

To complete this Discussion:

Post: Create an initial post in which you analyse the advantages and disadvantages controlling employee access to the Internet through various methods (e.g. blocking certain sites or monitoring employee usage of computing resources). Use your analysis to evaluate your selected access restricting methods. Also in your evaluation, consider the alternative of not restricting Internet access at all and instead measuring an employee's performance in terms of productivity. Be sure to account for potential unintended repercussions of these methods, including impact to employee morale.

Respond to your colleagues.

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