The Facebook Generation?

Companies that worry about "distractions" like coffee breaks and Facebook don't know how to set meaningful, clear business goals and manage performance to them.

If an employee is getting all their work done on time and with high quality, who cares if they web surf or take long lunches?

The argument that "It's not fair to others" says that we should manage everyone according the lowest common denominator, the least productive employees who can't manage their time and activities well.

Performance management gets reduced to babysitting.

When I had a staff of process engineers, what mattered was process yields. If yields were high, we were successful. Every engineer had yield as their primary goal and if they were meeting their targets I frankly didn't care when they arrived or left or how long they took for lunch.

Meetings these targets saved the company tens of millions of dollars a year. More freedom over their schedules was a more than adequate trade.

If an employee can meet the goals you've set and still surf 3 hours a day, then you need to, first, learn how they're doing such an incredible job and have them train everyone else. Second, give them more challenging, interesting work. Perhaps promote them to have more responsibilities and pay.

I think there will always be distractions at work and so I don't see Facebook as being particularly different. Sometimes social networking at work (which FB can be) can also be good for the company. So I guess it depends!

I agree with the earlier post that it is more about honing people's concentration skills and making sure work goals are still being met.

Hi Liz,
I like this outlook on Facebook and the new generation. I know an employer who blocked Facebook at the workplace as it was taking up too much bandwidth.

I believe that Facebook is a bit different from soda breaks/coffee breaks and smoking breaks. These breaks are measured by the cigarette length or the size of the cup. Facebook is so addicting, you forget how long you've been online. It's something every person needs to be aware of. Your boss will always assume you've been online a while or do it all the time. I would never be caught online unless it's for work. It's a good idea to hide going online for personal reasons.

I never thought to equate the time people spend on the internet in social networks as potential time wasters in the workplace. I think that more than the actual sites, the use of IM's in the workplace has been seen by me as distractions more people have been subject to. I have seen many a (mature) office worker prefer to place their IM clients on their desktops along with their business shortcuts, and leave conversations open while meeting with superiors and underlings alike.

Facebook is interesting because it engages the interest of younger people to put so much time into, that lets me think that they could be as motivated to accomplish a really interesting project as they are now to put their energies to Facebook. If this new endurance is any barometer, we may have a dynamic work force to look forward to.

I agree that it is not something to worry about. It is instead, honing people's skills of concentration.

this is what Courtney is on