Office Ethics

[AcrobatMan]

1) is it ethical to use company's ( company as in company you are working in) phone for personal purposes ? if yes how much , how little . where do you draw the line

2) is it ethical to surf personal sites during office hours in office. if yes how much , how little. where do you draw the line. should u go to news site like BBC, forums...or news sites are ok in office hours..forums ok during non-office hours.

3) is it ethical to listen music in office using a headphone.

i have been violating 2) & 3) and i think i should stop it

 

[melon]

All three depend on your company's guidelines. Some are more loose than others, so I think that this is a fairly open-ended question.

Melon

 

[AcrobatMan]

All three depend on your company's guidelines. Some are more loose than others, so I think that this is a fairly open-ended question.

Melon

suppose the company has no guidelines..and it doesnot tell anything if you are violating 1), 2) or 3).

 

[pax]

I think all three are probably ethical to a certain extent. That is, if you respect that the equipment still belongs to the company and you use it in a limited way, it's probably all right. That is, checking your e-mail or your bank balance is probably okay; surfing porn for an hour is not. Listening to headphones while you work on spreadsheets for hours is probably all right; having headphones on during a meeting is not. Calling home for a few minutes to check on dinner or something is okay; spending an hour on the phone gossiping with your friend is not. I think it has to do with both intent of the action and extent of the action.

 

[beli]

I agree with pax.

It also depends what your phone is used for. Mine is the main phone to ring in the event of a fire or chemical, biological or radioactive accident so I cant talk long. Reception would be similar but if you are not 'at the front end', and you are off in a cube somewhere a few quick personal phonecalls that cannot be made outside working hours maybe ok.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I'm at work right now so I cannot answer without incriminating myself.

 

[nbcrusader]

I'd say it depends on if you are getting your work done and if your personal business interfers with your job or anyone elses job at your company.

Btw - I'm responding on my company blackberry......

 

[arw]

I'm at work right now so I cannot answer without incriminating myself.

Me too!


There have been numerous times where I've been completely out of work, asked my coworkers if they need help and they say no, asked my manager for work and she doesn't respond to my email until 4 hours later and has her office door shut and doesn't answer her phone so all I can do is wait for her to read my email for her to find me something. So what else am I supposed to do? Stare at my three walls? I'm online and if someone here has a problem with it then they should find me something productive to do. Generally a project is found in a timely manner but sometimes I'm sitting at my little cubicle with nothing to do but play on Interference.

 

[fah]

1) is it ethical to use company's ( company as in company you are working in) phone for personal purposes ? if yes how much , how little . where do you draw the line

2) is it ethical to surf personal sites during office hours in office. if yes how much , how little. where do you draw the line. should u go to news site like BBC, forums...or news sites are ok in office hours..forums ok during non-office hours.

3) is it ethical to listen music in office using a headphone.

1 - Yes it is ok to make personal calls as long as you do not interfere with the day to day operations of your workplace, do not increase your co-workers load because you are making a personal call and that you keep all calls as brief as possible.

2 - Better to keep to the work related sites at work. Many people seem to forget that their work computer is not their personal property. Be careful what you do and say on your company owned computer because they can audit it at any time and find out where you've been etc...

3 - Personally, I would say no. As much as I love music, I find it anti social in a group atmosphere where people are supposed to be working together.