Forget Porn, Your Boss Is Now Worried About Basketball, Apparently

from the nothing-sells-like-timeliness dept

Mon, Mar 20th 2006 1:27pm — Carlo Longino

CBS' decision to stream NCAA tournament games for free, rather than charging for subscriptions, looks to be paying off, as it says it's delivered more than 14 million streams since the tournament began last week. But despite the excitement of March Madness, and the success of the online offering, somebody's got to rain on the parade, and this time it's somebody decrying all the "lost productivity" businesses suffer due to employees watching online. Of course, this guy happens to sell equipment to companies that want to block their employees from accessing particular kinds of online content, so he probably doesn't have a bias.

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27 Comments

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benmcnelly, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:55pm

LOL
It will only get worse as the march madness ensues further. Just wait till you can actualy watch porn videos online! That'ill be a hoot!
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- S5th, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:13pm
  
  Re: LOL
  only if you let it get worse :(
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hammer, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:03pm

woot
uhh....you can watch porn videos online.
but who wants to watch porn when u can get FREE game streams XD
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- S5th, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:12pm
  
  Re: woot
  Free porno streams normally have spyware
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Elf Ink (profile), 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:04pm

Will it never end!?
I just got all my employees to quit playing Solitaire, and now online basketball? What's next?!

I may have to sink to actually hiring competent people with integrity and work ethic. And those people cost waay too much!
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- S5th, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:12pm
  
  Re: Will it never end!?
  Just be a more effective leader, and then the people will learn work ethic etc....
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- F1, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:47pm
  
  Re: Will it never end!?
  Damn, lighten up. Workaholic? I agree with the "It's two days a week" comment. I am certain you find ways to skimp out and lazy on whatever work you have to do too. We all do. We are human, not machine.
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- LukeD, 20 Mar 2006 @ 6:51pm
  
  Re: Will it never end!?
  If your employees are gettting there work finished on time, and clearly have the companies best interest at heart; then who cares if they take a brake to play cards or watch basketball. Let em'...I think if you keep people happy at work, they'll be a lot more productive.
  
  Plus they'll want to be productive instead of, "oh I guess I should be productive, so that my micro-managing, tight-ass boss doesn't get on my case."
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Smacky Mouse, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:05pm

Jeez
Once ... just once, Smacky wants to see some new advancement come through online that DOESN'T cause some industry idiot with an axe to grind and a product to sell to come out with dire warnings of productivity loss.

It is Smacky's firm belief that all such individuals should be put in a wooden box marked "ID-10T" and shipped to Prague.
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heavyw8t, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:36pm

streams
It's 2 days each of weeks a year. Give the employees some slack and keep them happy.
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- S5th, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:47pm
  
  Re: streams
  let them slack 2 days, sometimes that gives them an excuses to slack other times... I am guessing you do see the underlieing problem here?
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Dbeard, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:48pm

Something about stones and glass houses
It is kind of hard for me to tell my people to stop streaming the basketball games on their computers when I'm watching the games myself. As a boss(which I'm not), I would rather have people send a little bit watching the games on their computers than calling in sick to watch them at home.
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./Decius, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:48pm

Re:Streams
Exactly I agree with #8. A happy employee is a good employee. Piss them off, and there will be alot more productivity loss.
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L00KING, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:51pm

I'm off the hook...
Well, at least they won't be bothering me & my porn for these days!
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Tyshaun, 20 Mar 2006 @ 3:04pm

from a low level team leads perspective...
I have a very simple set of rules for my employees when it comes to internet use.
1. If you say you worked 8 hours, that's what I expect. If you spent 2 hours working on your blog or surfing, don't charge the company. I shouldn't be paying for you to surf but I understand that at times you need to get things done that can't wait until the work day is over. 2. Unless its obscene (porn) or objectionable material, I really don't care what my employees look at on the web.
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Jay-Z, 20 Mar 2006 @ 3:22pm

Block everything.
Simple solution. Block everything. Then only open up what they need for work. We had so many problems with Virii, Spy ware and just plain wasted time that an "allow only" URL list became the only solution.
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Mr. Topspin, 20 Mar 2006 @ 3:32pm

Background noise
Am I the only one who can have this on in the background and still be productive? At least when it's available like this I'm not skipping work altogether!
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Da Boss, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:07pm

NCAA @ work
I've just put up a tv in the office with the basketball on and it gives the employees a chance to watch on and off, they instant message scores back and forth, but productivity is still coming through @ the end of the day. I don't have time to search through logs of accessed sites, we get everyone cheering through the day, time flies, and my employees are happy.
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JohnnyG, 20 Mar 2006 @ 7:07pm

To Sum it Up
Really who gives a hoot anyway. I mean what the hell are any of us accomplishing except a paycheck every two weeks.

Basketball fine..
Porn whatever..

Just get your friggen work done, get your check and go spend it. It is the American way!!
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Devin, 20 Mar 2006 @ 8:54pm

The average person in the US works 60 hours a week. Most other countries work less than 40. Output has never been higher in history not because we work smarter or more efficiently but we just work longer and harder. Instead of 10 people doing 10 different jobs we have 2 people doing the work of 5 people each.

Making money has become an obessesion that is decreasing lifespan and causing disease.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2006 @ 10:03am
  
  Re:
  Making money is supose to reward the people that do the most productive work, so they can continue to do more work.
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Andrea, 20 Mar 2006 @ 10:50pm

Why would one care about it?
It seems a better - perfect and legal - solution to cut productivity than computer viruses. It could be treated as an act of economic terrorism against employers.
On the other side 60 work hour week. Does someone know how long can this last. 70, 80, 100?
If you are at work for so much time, you actualy need multimedia connection with home, children, ... and against stress program. Next thing is a bed, basketballgame, video and sex on demand. Some future ......
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2006 @ 10:05am
  
  Re:
  well with proper nutrition who knows?
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robert, 21 Mar 2006 @ 4:51am

the problem
seeing as I am a network administrator I do see the problem with this.

1. I now know where my bandwidth went yesterday :/
2. nothing is ever the users fault its mine becuase I didnt block it
3. well i cant think of a third but it looks better

anyway it really isnt that huge but i do see a small issue... at least you cant file a sexual harrasment case for watching basketball unlike porn... well those guys do wear short shorts sometimes :x
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Realistic Phil, 21 Mar 2006 @ 7:44am

This country is crazy. We forget the importance of life and family and spending time enjoying all of whats out there. Everyone wants their employee to work work work.. everyone wants more for less.. this is where i raise my middle finger and say f**k you... all of you corporate managers and high paid brown nosers.

Work - life balance doesnt not exist in the US... Greedy damn country
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road, 21 Mar 2006 @ 10:55am

Does it really effect?
Alright any distractions in the work place cause a hit in productivity is there any difference if you employee is watching a sports game or if he's surfing the net constantly looking for score updates or emailing friends or chatting online???? You can blame all online activity on productivity downfall. There are so many distractions on the net that you can't blame just this one. For most of us, that sit at a computer all day a little entertainment in the corner of the screen isn't the end of the world. I know if I was watching some streaming video or tv right now I wouldn't be on here. I believe there was a article that was on here yesturday about multi tasking? I'll tell you what staring at code alll day gets boring quick and if I don't have a few distractions I would probably run through a window screaming... That is if there was a window. A few distractions actualy keep the moral of your workers higher and in my opinion if they can handle it responsibly makes for a better work place.
And who here honestly can say they don't listen to the radio or music or talk to ppl in the work place. It's not human to sit in a little box all day with no entertainment and be productive.
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Vladimir, 24 Oct 2006 @ 1:41pm

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