OT hidden browsers/hostil work environment?

Not necessarily. There are many salaried positions. You are paid to perform a task. Whether it takes you 1 hour or 10 hours, the pay is the same. Take a day off, you get paid. Work 60 hours, no extra pay.

I can see benefits to personal use at the office. Keeping tack of competitors, personal messages to customers, networking with complimentary businesses (referrals), sending birthday or anniversary wishes.

When you can ask a customer about his grandson, BY NAME, you are well on your way to a solid relationship with that customer.

--Andy Asberry--

------Texas-----

I don't see how that would be effective. IRC, IM, steganography, ect.

Iggy and I could be terrorists exchanging messages in ebay photo's.

Wes

It's been my experince that the most productive, most intelligent people in an office are always serious multitaskers. It's like their minds need X amount of activity to keep from imploding, so they will have multiple windows going all the time, of which several will be personal. And they still outperform on their assigned tasks. My friend is one of those.

I believe that most companies understand that employees will have to take small amounts of company time to address personal matters. It all comes down to a "reasonable" amount of time. And I think most companies will agree that it is better to lose 10 or 15 minutes of productivity here-and-there rather than lose a whole day. Based on that, I don't think it is theft to take company time to take care of personal business PROVIDED that privilege is not abused, and that it is "ok" with the company. Besides, it is good for morale. Keep the employees happy and they will work harder and take fewer "sick" days. But all it takes is one bad apple to ruin it for all. If you have one person that is taking say an hour a day for personal affairs, that one person could ruin it for all.

I also think that if the company is not letting you take this time then you most likely have other issues with the company too.

Wayne

I wonder how many employers have followed up on the idea put forth in a study I read about several years ago, in which it was recommended that employees be encourage to take "power naps" periodically through the day. Gerry :-)} London, Canada