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State-Sponsored Solitaire?
jefu writes "According to this story the state of North Carolina may be considering banning solitaire on state owned machines. It seems that state workers are now perceived as having replaced leaning on brooms with playing solitaire or minesweeper. The story provides coverage of both sides of the issue, noting that playing solitaire (or other games) may provide workers with a way to burn off some stress, but that this kind of activity is likely to be perceived as time wasting. My favorite bit (especially as April 15th draws ever closer) is where the author notes that fifty percent of the time an IRS employee is on the computer they are playing games, shopping online or gambling."
I admit it. I have had to delete Gnome Games and Windows Solitaire/Minesweeper/Freecell/Hearts from my machines at work. I just couldn't get any work done before.
where the author notes that fifty percent of the time an IRS employee is on the computer they are playing games, shopping online or gambling
Would that mean the IRS employs 50% too many workers?
I assume that there are dozens of online solitaire games avaiable. Unless they take the extra step of blocking all game related websites, the whole thing is pointless.
You are overanalyzing the problem. All you have to do is have the official poilicy of "no games" and then you are free to fire someone playing at work. OK, maybe they have to get a warning first.
The "no games" policy should be accompanied with a "no unauthorized installs" policy.
I have worked at a lot of companies, and one common theme among them is almost always, "Let's get rid of the games." As a sysadmin, I've actually been the one tasked with implementing it. However...
I think these policies are, in a word, stupid. If someone is going to waste time, they're going to waste time. If it's not on a game of Solitaire, it will be on some other non-work activity. The fact is that you cannot command a person to work for eight (if they're lucky) solid hours. Or as Scott Kirwin put it in the article, "Managers [have] lost sight that workers are real people, not robots."
Every time I've been asked to delete the games off of machines, I've expressed extreme disapproval. I've tried to explain until I'm blue in the face that it will not increase productivity. I've tried to explain that if you treat employees like they're four years old by taking away their toys, it will only cause resentment and a resulting LOSS of productivity. I've tried to point out that small Solitaire breaks (or any other mindless activity) actually help a lot of people get back into a more productive mindset going forward. I've also tried to point out that games such as Solitaire help people new to computers learn their way around. For example, it taught my mother, who had only used DOS-based accounting software, how to use a mouse. Sure, it sounds simple to you, but keep in mind that she had no idea what left-clicking, dragging-and-dropping, minimizing and maximizing, etc. were, but she was up to speed within a few minutes thanks to Solitaire.
But in general, all that stuff makes no difference to management. Since companies have layed off and outsourced to the point where they can't function any more, all that matters is that we have to be productive 24x7. Barring that, all that matters is that we have to LOOK productive 24x7.
So stupid...
Agreed, but I'd like to introduce a slight cautionary note. For some jobs I simply disbelieve that it is possible to be productive 100% of the day for 100% of all working days. I always love these productivity studies which say "600,000 man days of work are lost to <daft activity x> every year, employers say <daft activity x> must be banned from the workplace to ensure productivity rises."
Which, of course, it doesn't because 600,000 man days of work are now being 'lost' by the employees switching to <daft activity y> instead. That 600,000 days was an illusion - the productivity was never there to be had, in some jobs it's impossible for people to work as if they were machines. I including programming in this by the way.
I don't play games at work, but I certainly browse the web and spend some time talking to my wife over SMS messages. In days when desktop internet access wasn't common, I'd do crosswords at lunchtime or go for coffee breaks. Granted some of the figures mentioned sound extreme, but still - 100% of everybody's time isn't always a realistic target.
Cheers,
Ian
I've been saying this to no avail for years now. I wish someone would start listening.
I get so frustrated at management trying to pass off their responsibilites to the IT folks at companies. Simple example: Internet content filtering. I work at a large (Fortune 100) company, and I handle second-level support calls. One common theme that generates hundreds of calls a month (it is multinational) is, "I need access to such-and-such a site for legitimate business purposes, but it says that it's blocked due to (whatever reason the content filtering company had classified it)." So we have to get on a directly-connected machine, check out the site, verify that the person actually needs access, get approval from the person's manager, put in a request with the guy who manages the content filter, wait a few days until he can get around to it, then call the person back and let them know that the site has been allowed.
That's an awful lot of work to keep the very few people who may browse porn at work from browsing porn at work, and it's a major pain in the ass to the honest people trying to do their jobs. I haven't done a formal study, but it must cost the company thousands of dollars every month (maybe more) in the cost of the service plus the man hours spent going through this exercise. How much would the company lose if they just stopped content filtering? Significantly less.
But that doesn't matter. Management looks at this as an IT issue, not a management issue. If they push this responsibility onto us, that's one less thing they have to do, and one more level of blame that separates them from potential violators of corporate policy.
Going back to topic, games are the same way. If someone goofs off all day playing Solitaire, management looks at it as a problem with the computer or a problem with the IT department. Funny, they never seem to see it for what it really is: a problem with the employee or a problem with the employee's manager.
Which, of course, it doesn't because 600,000 man days of work are now being 'lost' by the employees switching to instead. That 600,000 days was an illusion - the productivity was never there to be had, in some jobs it's impossible for people to work as if they were machines. I including programming in this by the way.
That is a very good arguement. I work for a company that realises this: Most of our staff doesn't take coffee breaks, or real lunchtimes. Instead, we prefer to sit spend half of our lunch hour eating and the other half shooting eachother in video games.
Productivity is higher than if we simply ate our food and went back to work - our minds are refreshed because we took a moment away from critical thinking (IT/Programming job, BTW).
I'm glad I work for a company like that now, and I wish other companies would realize that as well.
There'd be a lot less depressed people in the world if more companies treated employees like humans, rather than bottom lines.
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
Until the harassment lawsuits start.
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
Some people aren't paid by how much the do, but being there to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
e.g. Firemen.
Granted, firemen are usually municipal not state workers. But they have lots of goof-off activities at the station to fight boredom.
Gee, nothing else to do since they took our T.V. and foosball away. Let's wash the shiny trucks AGAIN!