I was talking with a friend today and asked him how a former coworker of ours was doing. My friend mentioned that he was doing well but went to work for a company that has a strict internet usage policy: No personal email, no instant messaging. I assume no Twitter or blogging either.
I’m lucky to work for a company that has a liberal internet usage policy. Their focus is on getting the job done and allowing each employee to police himself when it comes to outside communication. We are trusted.
I wonder what a company hopes to achieve by removing access to instant messaging and the like? What it tells me is they don’t trust their employees with personal time management. Policy like this breeds mistrust.
I once worked for a company that didn’t allow instant messaging even though we had employees in several cities working on the same projects. When used properly IM can be a boost to productivity over the phone or email. But the IT manager at the time didn’t use IM so nobody else would either.
I cannot imagine working for a company that bans IM or blogging.
Nordquist Blog 
’tis me the dweller of the ‘walled garden’ š
So far no real complaints … it does take a bit more planning in order to catch up with friends and family without having any access to personal email at work. I miss being able to IM my girlfriend and friends throughout the day …but fortunately we have a (rather clunky) IM tool to talk to each other internally.
The funny thing is that I believe that the people I now work with are serious and dedicated professionals who probably wouldn’t violate any of the policiies if they were relaxed — it is a little hard to feel trusted when I can’t use my own judgment to check personal email or IM judiciously throughout the day. I’m a big proponent of electronic communication (because I secretly hate the phone mostly) and think that as long as I get my work done in a reasonable time frame and am respectful of the companies facilities I should at least be able to IM my old co-workers to find out the latest or email my old boss to find out what exciting activities are afoot at his work.
BTW – don’t get me started about our use of a different commercial email product called “FirstClass” instead of good ole Outlook (I am famously NOT a huge fan of our Redmond neighbors’ products – however after not using their email client product for a little over a week I can safely say I’d select it over our present tool…)
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I know what you mean about using anything other than Outlook. When I left MS, I went to a company that used Lotus Notes. What a POS that is. It felt like going back 15 years in time. Once you live with Outlook and Exchange (and now Windows Mobiles with Exchange) it’s hard to use anything else. I’m glad to hear things things are going well at your office. Can you fire up Meebo and say hello once in a while? š
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