Accessing social networks and messaging applications during work is a dilemma present in the daily lives of many managers and IT professionals in companies. There are those who say that blocking access to these sites reduces employee well-being, and there are also those who believe that granting access hinders productivity.
The truth is that it is a difficult question to answer accurately, after all, there are different employee profiles in companies and also areas where any distraction can cause major problems for the company.
Throughout this article, you will see the benefits of blocking and releasing websites such as Facebook , Instagram , WhatsApp and Telegram , widely used during working hours in companies, and also an efficient way of managing internet access in the corporate environment.
Social networks and messaging apps
Access to social networks is the factor that most contributes to wasted time at work. In Brazil, 96% of internet users use messaging applications daily and 97% use social networks daily, according to the We Are Social 2020 .
Not to mention entertainment, gaming, shopping, music and dating apps, which account for smaller percentages, but take up users' time and attention on a daily basis.
Another alarming fact is that according to research , internet users spend an average of 9h17min daily connected to their smartphones. This represents a large part of his day, and certainly a large portion of his work time.
Therefore, believing that the internet in the corporate environment only brings benefits is a big mistake.
Allow access to social networks and messaging applications?
It is inevitable that some employees will access social networks and messaging applications during work hours. Therefore, it is up to the manager to decide whether access to this type of content will be granted or not. However, it is important to know your team and understand how this use can influence productivity.
Companies can adopt liberal or more conservative policies, but they must always consider the maturity of the team. With a mature, productive team committed to the company's results, it is possible to adopt a more flexible stance, allowing access without total restrictions or at specific times.
In the opposite scenario, granting access to social networks and messaging applications to less mature teams will cause them to lose even more focus on the company's activities and compromise results.
In this sense, we can conclude that the manager must seek balanced solutions and develop methods to motivate the team, implementing, for example, an internet access policy according to the team's profile, blocking specific access to avoid wasting time and low productivity.
Is blocking internet access important?
In addition to productivity and team focus, unlimited access to social networks and messaging applications represent a digital security risk, after all, they open space for the entry of viruses, ransomware, phishing, among other problems related to internet security.
In situations like this, it is important to implement a system for managing and controlling internet access , preventing access to websites considered harmful (present on various social networks) from being accessed on the company's network.
But blocking everything for all teams can be a “shot in the foot”. It is essential to analyze the particularities of your team and define access groups, implementing different access rules for each group, according to the profile of employees, activities performed or specific sectors.
The sales sector, for example, can use social networks to prospect customers. The HR sector can search for information about professionals on Linkedin and Facebook.
Another important point is collecting information about internet use, observing reports of what is being accessed and optimizing the company's internet access policy.
Note that release and lockdown are not necessarily distinct and polarized policies. A balance between the possibility of access to social networks and messaging applications and also the blocking during certain periods can be done aiming for the well-being of the team and also the company's productivity and results.
How to control access to the company's internet?
There are numerous tools for controlling internet access for companies, offered on the market today. Some are more robust and complex, requiring more technical knowledge, others specific to some features with payment in foreign currency, and also, some aimed at small and medium-sized companies, with a friendly and intuitive interface, with payment in local currency (R$), such as This is the case with the Lumiun Box .
Seeking to facilitate the complete internet management process for companies, we developed the Internet Access Control Guide for Companies . The material brings together various information and characteristics about the task, and also a step-by-step guide to implementing an efficient access policy consistent with the company's needs.
The material is free, you can download it whenever you want and also share it with colleagues and friends.
If you are implementing access rules in your company, do an experiment: pay attention to the behavior of employees on the internet, compare results and see how managing internet access can help your company grow.
Until later!
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