games on workstations

I suspect one of the major problems with developing carpal tunnel is knowing the right way to type.

Check out a concert pianist sometime. You'll find that many of them practice at least 8 hours a day (if not more). You almost never hear of a pianist with carpal tunnel, yet the action to activate a single piano key requires more force than a keyboard. Why is it so rare to hear of carpal tunnell in a pianist? Technique.

Most data-entry is done by focusing use of the muscles in the fingers. However, if the wrist is slightly elevated (and not physically resting on the desk, keyboard, etc) the write and arm gets involved, reducing the muscle use of the hands.

As a programmer, this is a valuable way to type. It also helped me pick up a few extra characters per minute.

That doesn't always work. A company that I worked for installed all the software the computer needed and then removed the CD and floppy drives... the only way you were installing games on that computer was to know the network admin. They even went so far as to install custom software that would restore the computer to the original state. This occured every quarter.

This goes a long ways toward restoring confidence that the Candians aren't so bad after all.

Beer, taquilla, and steel tip darts. What can possibly go better together?

Used to throw in the leagues till I jacked up my shoulder working in a shop building pool tables (Valleys), now my bowling and dart days are really limited.

That is why I had to switch over to shooting leagues. Even someone with a gimped shoulder can do well.

Question. 20'. In US that means 20 feet. Is that meters? ' is feet and " is inches. What do you use for shorthand? The big metric push in the US has all but died out, so that the government has just in the last few years stopped making us quote jobs in metric for government jobs.

It's great to be a part of a small company. Once a month we get together and either play a game over the internet (Halo usually) or go to someone's house, order pizza and rent a few games from the local video store to play on XBox or Playstation 2. It's a great way to get to know co-workers outside of the day-to-day monotony of work.

Unfortunately, we have some fascist mentalities running rampant and we had to implement GPO's to disallow playing built in games. Scriptlogic can also be used to lock down the machines.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with playing during lunch time, but HR always find the bad in things.

Play is an important aspect of work. Bye giving peopel a chance to play (within reason), you realize a number of benefits:
1: more efficient and effective work from your employees
2: higher levels of creativity
3: more loyal employees
4: a stronger team ethic
5: a more positive work environment
6: better relations with customers

It is unfortunate that more corporations don't understand or realize this.

Why all the "Nazi" like replies to this. We are talking about lunch breaks right? If the folks are on their lunch breaks what possible harm could it do for them to play a game, so long as the system is properly locked down and monitored?

Sure hold employees accountable, do you not run web usage reports to see where folks are surfing? Do you not lock down your end users from installing software? Guys this stuff is "Admin 101" common sense stuff.

As for any argument of either what if they play games outside of their lunch break or go over their lunch break: 1) Is your company a business of mature adults or is it a pre-school? 2) You can trust your employees to handle sensitive or proprietary company data in the course of their jobs but you don't trust them to follow the "rules" with regards to computer useage and their lunch breaks? and 3) If they foul out, you take disciplinary action against that employee -- don't punish the many for the one. If they really abuse the rule...fire them.

I don't see the problem here -- as long as the systems are locked down and the employees are aware of policy regarding lunch time usage.

In all companies (any company I worked at or heard about anyway) there are at least 2 10 minutes breaks outside of lunch, then you have the "unofficial breaks" (as I like to call them) where people gab at random points in the day, then you have the meetings that last for an hour plus.

So spare me, we all know how office culture is -- its RARE that folks are literally keying away nonstop with no break for hours on end.

I agree with the other poster its HOW you type that cases carpal tunnel, not how LONG you type.

Get the latest version of DOOM and install it on about a dozen PCs, then invite the HR staff to your daily tournament :)

All computers on the network should be setup identical as far as games go unless a conflict exists with software for that department. I personally prefer to leave games on the workstations. We have found that employees need a temporary break at times during the day when they get to a point where they are having a problem with whatever they are working on. Backing off and playing a game for a few minutes is sometimes better than walking to the breakroom or bathroom. It takes their mind off the problem for a few minutes while they concentrate on the game. Many times when they return to what they were working on, the error is easy to find, they correct or fix it, and continue on with their work. This said, company policy on computer use should be understood by all. Not all companies have only experts using computers. We have individuals whose primary job is not setting at a computer all day, but they are now required to do tasks on the computer. Many had little or no computer experience when we installed workstations for them to use. We found that being able to play a simple and easy game on the computer helped relieve their fears of damaging the computer and encouraged them to develop their computer skills thus becoming a more productive employee as it required much less time to complete their tasks on the computer. Some of these employees have gone from not even knowing how to turn on a computer to developing excellent computer skills and enhancing their value to the company tremendously. Their comments almost always are that the games on the computer allowed them to relax, find out that any little mistake would not break the computer, and learn to use the mouse, keyboard, and different programs.

The issue is that all employees need to take a break, period. That is part of the employment laws in most states. Most companies have a room designed for lunch/breaks and that way for audit purposes,people cannot say I was working because I was at my desk. It comes down to direct supervisors making sure that the employee takes the break and gets away from the computer. Yes if you have a 1/2 lunch and you want to play a game after 15 minutes well thats up to the Supervisor in the area not up to IT. I believe that IT comes up with the policies and it is the management over each area's job to enforce policies.

I'm sole IT (admin, support, development) for a small company with about 35 computers (more computers than people). I don't have time for policing, or enforcing work habits, and wouldn't do it even if I did. My policies are based only on the impact usage has on maintaining the machines.

My policy: no one installs their own software, games or otherwise. They can (and should) update flash over the internet. I don't install games, but I leave the MS games on the computer (I don't bother to change the default installation).

I don't lock down the machines in any way. Everyone has admin rights. I found simple troubleshooting or changes took much longer when I had to log them off, log on as admin, make the changes, and then log on as the user again to verify it worked (which it didn't always).

Everyone has internet access, because everyone needs it. It is assumed that a certain amount of surfing will be for personal purposes. Again, as long as it doesn't impact my support time, I don't care.

How do I keep people from installing stuff, and getting loads of spyware on their computers? I also have a policy that if I have too much trouble with a computer, I will wipe it and restore from the image. I've had to do this twice in about three years, and neither time from abuses of internet priveleges, or because of installation of software.

In the very rare cases where people have abused their games or internet priveleges, HR and management have considered it an employee issue, not a computer issue.

To avoid the problems using programs that some areas are not supposed to use, you can install Fortres 101, and control who has access to what, even you can group users and have different program access profiles.Go to www.fortres.com and download a trial version

My personal opinion is that if HR are concerned about the amount of exercise their staff undertake during each working day, they should not take a round-a-bout route and place the onus on the IT department to do something about it.

If HR are concerned, they should create a policy that forces those doing the data entry to take a break at regular intervals. If any of my users is set the task of data entry I tell them they should take a break at regular intervals - this break comprises walking round the building and having a quick chat with co-workers. Not only is the user 'healthier' they are also less likely to make mistakes during data entry.

As to games - many of the staff at my workplace play solitaire or minesweeper during their coffee/lunch breaks. Games are fun! And these people often take regular excercise, such as swimming/football/gym after work.

Maybe the HR representative can volunteer to run fitness classes during each lunchbreak...

Our organization's policy is that no games are loaded on any PC, period. With one exception...the pre-packaged games that come with Windows (i.e. Solitaire, Free Cell, etc) are left on the PCs. Then we leave it to the department head to judge weather this is problematic to their staff's productivity. They reserve the right to have IT remove the games from the PCs. So I would suggest a similar approach.

I am reading a lot of stuff about how bad the users are. I am one of the techs and a user at most companies I have worked for. The majority of the people use the games for just a quick break during the day. The serious gaming is done after hours. We had a place where we had a gaming night, Friday night at six pm. About half the company (8-10) people joined in for a networked game for a few hours. Overall, this promoted some better working relationships between the people in different departments. And, even though it was on company equipment, didn't cost the company anything. The boost to morale and productivity was great, and the knowledge that it was set up actually reduced the tendency to play during work hours. When a new manager came in and canceled the gaming, morale tanked. Most people, even those who didn't play, felt that it was a stupid thing to do.

The problem is that everyone feels that they have to control everything. Some simple trust in people is a good thing. Afterall, the person using the computer is USUALLY a more expensive asset than the computer itself, something that most IT people overlook.

Let them play the windows games over lunch. For many older workers this helps them become more comfortable with their computers. My big issue has been the entire office installing an running Webshots. I managed IT in a Academic setting and learned that academic freedom allows users to install most anything on their PC's. Well users took advantage of that and installed webshot, this poses a problem as it dramaticly increases network traffic. I personally feel webshots are far more of a concern than are the games. I also think HR should look to see who is looking for work while working.

Give them other options. I know engineers where I work who play various card games on breaks. Others go walking on a track around the office.

If you're HR person is concerned, have them publish an HR notice saying that they are concerned and that, while they will allow people to do what they want, here are some other options available.

At one company, there was even a short calisthenics period (just some stretching) for 10 minutes.

But enforcing system policies on something as small as this is overkill.

All too often some employees enjoy staying at their desk during lunch time. The employee might elect to either read a book, study or play a built-in game ( Solitaire, etc... ). Unless it is written in the employee manual of company's policies no Manager of any department should be asked to address health issues or the likes with their employees. The Human Resources department is responsible for setting up standards and policies for the company. The IT Manager, in conjunction with Top Management sets up policies in regards to the use of the computers and the IT services of the company.

I remember the first time I looked at the bottom of a keyboard and saw a sticker warning the serious health problems would result from prolonged use.
We have become a nation of sniveling cry-babys! Our ancestors who pioneered this nation must be rolling in their graves.
Maybe someone should take this "human resource" person out behind the wood shed and demonstrate what a real health risk is!

I tend to lock all workstations down completely, including games.

If game playing is required - place a couple of computers in the staff room that are specifically for game play. This means that staff leave their assigned work area and make a choice on their private time to play games.

would you like some cheese with your whine?

that was certainly boring...

Look what is the rule at a company...is the rule at a company. If my employer said no games, it wouldn't matter to me and I'd pull it from all desktops. Likewise if my employer said its fine as long as its monitored and only on lunch breaks -- I'd just a soon do that.

But the original post was talking about what employees occupy their selves with DURING LUNCH BREAKS. THAT IS YOUR ("EMPLOYEE") TIME!

If any employee is dumb enough to abuse this very nice "side benefit", or they are caught taking it a step further with porn surfing, trying to install their stuff, etc. Then you fire them - its that easy, cut and dry. Ok maybe on the first offense you give them a warning and they pull the "side benefit" of playing games on Lunch away from them. Second time you fire them.

The think that really cracks me up at work are the bean counters and execs who see everything as "productivity" or "cost savings"...they focus on this so much, their eyes just see percentages and dollar signs.

Those same narrow minded folks never seem to think about how moral, feeling comfortable, getting a period to relax abit -- how that can attribute to more productivity AND it costs the company no money!

Just a thought :)

Please explain what you mean by "increasing health risk".

I forgot the prerequisite of entertaining everyone.

My mistake, perhaps try Muppets.com they have a really cool site with lots of fun and entertainment for you.

Exactly. And I'll admit I need to learn to relax a bit more myself (not just work related but in general)...but dude, some of these guys make me look laid back.

I guess these folks don't realize if you properly setup thinks like account security, local user profiles, network monitoring, web filtering, etc. that you can allow an employee to unwind AT LUNCH without being anal about it.

Was just talking about that yesterday.

I had a friend over while I was posting a few replies. Her question was "Are ALL AmericansTHAT uptight about IT and their 'responibilties'?

She was amazed that THIS particular topic even made a forum. OF COURSE you can play games at work! I wouldn't work somewhere if it was tightly regulated myself, talk about 'stick in bum' syndrome!

It's alomst like emp[loyees there tty and one-up each other on the 'I'm more important scale' again psychologically true when considering the traits of the general IT staff member. One time geek and dweeb in school, now given a role that they feel empowers them. I see IT staff as no different than a janitor, receptionist, or any other menial employee ion an office. You can be replaced by thousands in about half an hour.

THUS, bit of a segue, Canadian employers when compared to US are 'doing it all wrong' have no management ability, are too easy on people etc. Not understanding that we don't have to be POLICIED into ocmpliance, we are given room and freedom and that loyalty and work ethic fals in line naturally. The old treat people like adults and they act like adults theory. It has been proven tie and time again that reduced, "MANAGEMENT" of people actually reduces the NEED to manage people, thus making everyone's life easier.

Yes we are MUCh easier going, laid back and accepting than Americans are as a society. This doesn't mean that everyone is stoned though. That while issues has been taken SO far out of line it isn't funny. MOST Americans haven't got a clue what the laws here are, they think it's a free and legal pot smoking society, which couldn't be farther from the truth. If ANYTHING, Canadian laws have made it more restrictive than before. It used to be that people would smoke whatever they wanted, wherever they were. Now you face fines for doing so.

So while the IDEA given to many is that Canada is like Amsterdam, it is completely wrong. There are more penalties and laws surrounding drug use now, than BEFORE they were talking about legalizing marijuana. Legalization and decriminalization are two very different things, don't get mislead into thinking post is LEGAL in Canada, as MOST people seem to think, it isn't. In fact you face more repercussions now than ten years ago.

I can't fix the missed title nor edit this post, TR is doing it's weekly page not available thing. It seems they like to take the site down midday for updates.

Yes, I am pissed off, and yes it is a major inconvenience that I have put up with every week for god knows how long now.

I can edit th epost but not post the changes, "The page you have requested cannot be found" as it seem to do weekly for an entire afternoon.

Very real problem of not taking breaks from keyboarding. Has to be dealt with administratively by line managers. HR did good to raise the concern.

This attitude of treating employees as unruly children sounds like those who became hall monitors in school so they can wield power and lord it over others just for their own egos. Yes, protect the network, but why remove the games, like solitaire, that are installed with Windows operating systems? Why restrict internet access other than the obvious which could get the company in trouble (porn, gambling, etc.)?

Ultimately, any equipment/resource used at the office should be for work purposes. It is up to a supervisor to enforce the work place policies. Most would not see a few minutes of 'misuse' as a concern for the bottom line or for health. The only time I have had to talk to people is when it HAS affected productivity.

Employee needs to follow the rules and be aware of the appropriate excercises and work practices.

I agree.

I work for the Oz government and rarely have I seen the 'anything goes' attitude. I've got a mobile and laptop and have been expected to be on call round the clock.

1)What specific health issues are at risk?

2)Did HR conduct a study or how did they come to their conclusion?

The health issues they are eluding to may have been caused by the constant use of the computer screen and typing on keyboard in order to perform their job.

The HR person is most likely trying to be creative for job security or to head off the posibility of any injury that company will have to be responsible for.Some one has planted a seed and they are running with the idea that it is harmful,try selling HR person some land in the Florida everglades and if they bite,you can rest you study at that point.

I don't think my coworkers are stupid although I once did but that was a long time ago and they where stupid! :)

As for the receptionist well if you where to see her you would go running in the other direction for protection.;)

Actually the people i have around me now I think are brilliant although they are willing to put up with me so they must have some shortcomings. Perhaps it is all of my staff how should be locked up to protect me from them. :D

Col ]:)

Buy depending on LABOR LAWS where this person is they may be forced to give a few warnings before dismissing the person/s involved.

The ones that I really love are the bean counters who see everything as an expense and not the money that these people are responsible for bringing in, perhaps it might be a good idea to suggest that the people who think of everything as an expense get fired and let the real people get on with their work making profits. ;)

Col ]:)

Col ]:)

But you are in a section that is the exception to most Government Departments.

At one of the places where I used to work we would send something to the printer which was a network printer and then wait for it to come out generally about 7 days latter provided that in that time no one forgot to refill the printer with paper or toner if that happened then it would just take that much longer.

I was constantly tearing my hair out in an attempt to introduce some efficiency into the place. Finally I got sick and tired of bashing my head against the proverbial brick wall and walked away. I still hear horror stories about what is going on there from some of the people who I used to work with there.

Col ]:)

Also, pianists don't focus their eyes on a screen. They use their memory of music notes, while data entry typists have to look at new data every time.

Besides, playing a piano gives a direct auditory feedback through your varied movement and force. Typing same type of data over and over on a computer doesn't provide much feedback, since only the data shows up on the screen. You never know how your wrist is bent or how much force you have exerted on the fingers.

Obviously not in the Network Integration side of the OZ Government are you?

When they rolled out the fiber optic cables it was my suggestion that the AU Government did the same thing and they would only be required to cover the costs of the raw materials as the cost of surveying the route was already done and the trench diggers had to be there anyway so it was just as easy to throw in 2 cables as one. The response was we own Telstra and we will tell them what we require. Now something like 15 years latter they no longer totally own Telstra and are being dictated to as to what they =can have available instead of what they need. I understand that they are now going to run their own fiber optic cables but instead of only costing a few million they are talking about several billion $ and a long wait while they survey new routs for the cable to run. Of course it can not be too close to the existing cables as they just might break something when they are digging the holes.

I can go on but what is currently happening at Lucas Heights is a PRIME EXAMPLE of Government INEPTITUDE not by the grunts on the make it work level but by those responsible for organizing things and accepting design parameters.

Col ]:)

That this is not an IT issue but a Corporate Issue. It isn't up to the IT department to dedicate company policy but to enable it to happen.

I'm just wondering what type of corporate buying policy was used when these machines where brought. I'm not really interested in anything else.

Col ]:)

You buy a socket any size in metric and then ask for 1/8",1/4",1/2",3/4" or 1 inch drive depending on the size of the socket.

Over here we just have to use metric all the time when possible and really it isn't much of a problem now that just about all the nuts and bolts are metric but there has never been an attempt to make the drive size for sockets metric.

A perfect example of this is a socket that every tire shop just has to have in stock a 22 mm with a 3/8 inch drive, these are the only things that can fit into some of the alloy wheels.

Or Cosworth Engineering a very long time ago we brought 6 3.5 LT DVF motors from them and while the engine size was in metric every dimension was inside was in imperial.

Col ]:)

I've never actually though about the drive sizes,you take it all for granted after a while I suppose. It's not like you stare at a socket for a minute and say, it looks like a 3/8", you just know without conciously thinking about it.

Gotta remember that next time we are bithcing about Imperial and metric bolts used on the same North American car because it was manufactured with foreign parts from all over the world.

It amazes me the typical stereotype that one has about government work. I have worked in both the private and public sector. I've even performed time-study analysis in the private sector. I
ve also managed my own business and have had clients in both. There are the same inefficiency and efficiency in both. I'm not talking about one experience with one business in either sector. I'm talking about over 30 years of hands on experience. If private sector had their thing so much together they would not have intrusion issues, bankruptcies, scandals, fraudulant financials and etc. Since the subjet is actually about playing the built-in games during the employees personal time here goes. Stress is the number one reason for health issues and the loss of productivity. If these games allow the employee to relax, remove their preasures of the work and therefore relieve stress, why would you want to prohibit this activity. There should be breaks scheduled every 2 hours. Some where in between that time a person should take a minute to relax their neck, wrists, shoulders and refocus their eyes to mitigate the effects of repetious functions. Leave the games and allow incidental use. Your employees will be better for it. Public or private sector.

Maybe she is just concerned about stress related work. Even all the things considered, the ergonomics, the working environment, etc. Stress will always be present.

When I was in a collosall project back then, we enforced desktops policies, maybe like the one that you are imposing right now. HR found out that such things benifited the company in more ways than one, but did not help in any sort of way of releiving stress in the work place. Therefore, they found out that people get less efficient, even their bosses.

When I came to where I am now, in this company I am working, I also enforced desktop policies. But made a careful study first among the users. This might raise some eyebrowse again, but I allowed those games that came with the windows package. No more, no less.

Users need to relax a bit from time to time. I have come to learn that. But the thing is, people relax in their own way. Some sleep during lunch break, some play table tennis, and some play solitaire, or one of those games that comes with windows. I even caught a few managers watch video cd's at lunch break. After the break, they are very much alive, active, and efficient.

So now, what I have done? Consider that facts. You can enforce policies without sacrifing your users. After all, both users and policies are equally important to the company.

Oh, I think you know what I mean.

Where the Games Installed?

That is my point here why where the games installed in the first place or not un-installed before the units went to work?

What I think it is here is a business being a cheap skate and someone in HR trying to throw their weight around to look far more important than they actually are.

The end user never misses what they never had and will all be up in arms if you start removing things from each workstation but if they where not installed in the first place this would be a non-issue!

Col ]:)

Better attention if you start with the boss and work your way down. Before you get anywhere near the real units you are called back in and told to reinstall everything you have removed. ;)

Col ]:)

I found the information for stretches and setting up ergonomic workstations at UCSD. The link is http://blink.ucsd.edu/Blink/External/Topics/Policy/0,1162,4817,FF.html?delivery=&coming_from=. There is a good bit of information contained here and you could put your own program together to help.

In my organization, HR has nothing to do with the computer use policy - just IT. The way we handle the games is like this: If the manager does not want their subordinates to have the games, we restrict their use. The way I see it, it is a good stress reliever and gives employees a chance to reset a bit during the day. If it is excessive (again it's up to their manager/supervisor) then the games are restricted, otherwise we leave them alone. For new computer users (those who have little to no experience) the games serve as a way to learn the use of the mouse and interface - sometimes even the keyboard.

I agree that some people will play games all day if you let them. These are usually the people who took the job for a paycheck. I find that those people who enjoy their job and the environment/co-workers around them tend to work a bit more. We don't have any problems with people playing games all day. Due in part to the fact that the managers/supervisors keep an eye on them and will have us remove the games if they seem to be "playing too much." By leaving it the supervisors decision, IT is blameless when it comes to the removal - we get to tell them to talk to their supervisor about it. In your case, it's policy and you are again out of the line of fire by pointing it out.

But a lot of the government agencies have been cut down by spending cuts and by people that want a bigger bonus at the end of the year. I too work for Uncle Sugar in the DoD side of the house. I have been in 15+ years and I will admit that in the beginning of my time here things were, hmm, excessive.
In the last 10 years I have seen shop sizes dwindle as people retire, seperate, and quit and not be replaced. Automation of tasks that used to be manually performed has removed a lot of bean counters from some areas. Like I said, most of this is through attrition, but there have been some RIFs(Reduction In Force) locally.
The good old days of being able to get a government job and stay there forever are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

As far as the games on systems and the reduction in performance goes, people are fairly flexible. If you give them the option to work or starve, most will work. Seriously, if it's posted that there has been problems with viruses and spyware and port 80 is getting shut down because of it, most will understand. And while you are at it, include the little note at the bottom that entertainment applications are being removed and not give a reason. There will be inital annoyance, but then everyone will just talk about the mean IT guys instead of worrying about it.

The original post stated that HR was concerned because employees were playing the games during their lunch breaks - not on company time.

Most companies that I have worked for have removed all games from their system. In addition to this they have very specific policies that prohibit anyone from adding any unauthorized software.

This is so typical of Human Resoures people. They always want to "butt in" where they don't belong. Instead of taking care of things that have a real impact on the employees they push goofy stuff like this.

Post a freaking sign that excessive time at a keyboard may be detrimental and let it go. If they still want to engage in the games they've been warned then the HR person can do something more meaningful instead of acting like the gestapo!

Our department bought the software called: Stretch Break. You can set it to remind you to stretch (and do various short stretching exercises) every so often. You can have it automatically start when you start windows, set amount of time between stretches, how many stretches you do each time and even has soothing music (you can disable it if wanted). I like it because you would be surprised at how quickly time flies when you are working in front of your computer. This serves as a great reminder. The cost is minimal as well. Here is the website for the free trial: http://www.paratec.com/ - good luck!

Leslie

(to kill your boss that is :)

In 'The Russians' book I think it was called, (Cedric Smith or someone, NY Times reporter) they outline that russian plants, after there quota was filled would let people go home then sometimes have another 'off the record' shift come in and produce goods the factory manager (and party member so he was immune) would sell for his own gain, with state provided raw materials. Quite fascinating.

Would be claiming that you are not doing your job and want to come down on you like a ton of bricks.

Col ]:)

thats a good point when removing something, replace it with a dummy terminal or a stand alone!! good point !

We leave them there because taking them out takes work and we want to minimize the effort in installing and maintaining workstations. Keeping each operating systems as close to the original as possible reduces effort.

The bigger question of games is part of the larger topic of appropriate use of company assets. Our employees are expected to treat the computer like a telephone. How much personal business is allowed with any company asset can be laid out in the Human Resources Policy standards in your business.

I don't see harm in having these few games on the systems as long as people work when they should be working and play on their own time. If a person can't live within a few communicated guidelines they are not the type of employee to keep. All the above said if you have an otherwise good employee who gets hooked on games then it may be worth the effort to ensure they have no games at work. They may even thank you for helping them out.

Employee fitness is also part of a larger discussion of which games are a very small part. There are other ways of dealing with it, such as fitness breaks, if a company is concerned.

I have also experience of serious practice as a pianist.

I did develop tennis elbow from the same sort of repetitive action so it is not without similar risks.

And I was trained as a typist so *do* type correctly (when using a computer).

Basically any repetitive activity can cause problems even if done correctly. My tennis elbow was at its worst when I was practising for exams or a performance somewhere, ie the added tension made my hand movements more tense I guess and the exercises I was doing to speed up reaction time also added to the physical strain as they were quite demanding and needed a lot of practice!

I hate when HR, or management in general, tries to use technology to solve personnel issues. If people aren't getting their work done, that needs to be addressed by a manager, not by adding more complexity to the network admins' jobs. If managers don't like having to do that, they probably don't belong in management.

I feel the same way about filters, policies, etc. Sure, some basic ones make sense, but you CAN'T solve all "unauthorized access" issues with technology - some of it has to be done by actual managers who actually know what their employees need to accomplish in a given workweek. People who don't want to work WILL find ways to kill time, no matter how many fancy-pants filters and policies you clutter your network up with. And people who want to get up and move around will do so, without the computer prompting them to.

I personally think that webshots and weatherbug software and anything else that invades the LAN or opens security holes needs to be pinned down, and eliminated before the next bug/worm/trojan/malware comes along and wipes out the corporate network due to this slack policy.

on the other hand solitare and games should be something that only people who have TIME to do should be doing. Lunch is appropriate. After hours is appropriate.

It is not unhealthy to sit at your desk unless you have health issues with sitting still.
The mental relaxation from playing a mindless game can improve productivity.

Some people like things that BLOW UP and they imagine that they are all the customers that they need to be shooting just to reduce stress from playing nice toward the customer in the face of immenant stupidity and emotional rage. A few minutes of this actually calms people down.

Any abuse of company property/policy should be
punishable. They are paid to work, not play games or surf porn all day using company assets.
If they dont like it there's enough other people
out there that need a job.

Kos

What is on the hard drive and available from the
network is all they need to do their job.
Dont like it find another job! There's enough
people jobless that would be willing to work!

Kos

AUP is Acceptable Use Policy, you may call it Computer Use Policy, it's a policy outlining the acceptable use of computer equipment and is kept in the HR Policy and Procedures manual. Here's an excellent website for more info.

http://www.sans.org/resources/policies/Acceptable_Use_Policy.doc

Not only do we do all of the above, we have software that blocks the executables and dll's of all Microsoft games. We also block installations of all types. If given the opportunity, I would take away the "Start" button. Part of the education has been vocabulary. A "Personal Computer" is what you have at home. The company provides you with a "workstation" to do your job. Before this was implemented, we monitored the number of times sol.exe was executed on each machine. 25% of employees averaged 3X a day even though it was expressly forbidden.

I love being "Big Brother"

I belive that they should only have what they need and nothing else if you give them an inch they will take a mile. i work with education institutions alot and they see this problem all the time. LOCK EVERYTHING DOWN. if they need to play solitare that bad bring in a deck of cards.

Every company is different, but I found the only way to effectively deal with this situation is to establish a 'business use only' policy. Games (even built in WinGames) in the workplace waste productivity at best, and can become disputive to your business at worst. Same goes for casual internet surfing.

In my experience, users will take a 'if its not blocked or banned, then it must be OK' approach to their corporate desktops. They also feel that their workstations are extensions of their own personal property. For example, I've heard 'why can't I play online games at Yahoo, its no different than the built in internet games....'. If you try to pick and choose what is 'OK' and what is not, it won't be long before all your users resent you for 'playing computer god' (or any number of other descriptions I've been called).

Business use only is relatively simple to define; if a website or application has no relevance to your business, it is off limits. In addition to technological restrictions, you MUST have a clearly written policy on this. Our company includes this policy in its employee handbook, which all hires are required to sign off on at time of hiring.

Just one IT guys approach to this issue.....

If you have a couple of spare minutes, so why not?
It's not worse than talking trivia, or reading the paper.

But our workstations are locked. Our end users can install nothing that requires a DLL or a change to the registry. Makes remote support feasible.

Tribute goes to Steve Wozniak, hardware legend

We use Oosie Micropause at our office, see http://www.franzo.co.nz/oosie/

It's installed as part of our SOE so anyone can turn it on as they wish.

Stu

if you're unfortuneate enough to die on the job and still stay sitting will they pay you till the end of you're shift or will they repremand you?? and dock your pay!!!!

I start with requirements and mission. The computer is there to be used by the employees to accomplish the organization's business goals in an efficient manner. If you are going to allow personal use, it can't conflict with business requirements. Acceptable times might be before or after work and during any authorized breaks during the day. If email is authorized, I would want them to use web based email not the organizations email system and if I did allow use of organization's email, I would enforce a strict rule about length of retention and amount of storage space used, I would not allow emails with exe files attached even if you have a no install rule! As for using the workstations to surf the internet, I am mixed. The easiest solution is to only allow internet access for pure business reasons. However, there is a lot of information out there that might be found by an employee that could actually help the business. Unfortunately, if we assume that employees will only use it on their own time, we still have the problems of accessing inappropriate sites and security risks. Whatever the decision is, it has to be written clearly and distributed to all affected employees. Lastly, the games. As a network administrator or a end user PC support specialist, the primary problems with games are wasted storage space and system downtime because of configuration and compatibility problems. Generally, those aren't issues with the games that already come with the operating system. I have used the games to help users get comfortable and become proficient at using a mouse. The games can also relieve stress. If you decide to allow personal use of the computers, company policy has to be real clear what is allowed and when it may be done. It should also state what kind of actions can be taken if the individual is caught breaking the rules. If you are going to monitor the system to ensure compliance, make sure the policy highlights the fact that it is being monitored.

Hopefully what I have said is logical and makes good common sense!