Re: [FCP-L] OT: Social media at work... ban it or embrace it?

On Nov 20, 2009, at 12:20 PM, Richard Nelson wrote:
> Working for wage or salary is a pretty straight trade between
> employee and employer: You barter your time and talent for money.

This is where we disagree. If I "punch a clock," then I am bartering
my time for money. As a freelance editor, I charge for "hours of
work" and the work that I'm doing during those hours is clearly defined.

But as a salaried employee, I have entered a contract to perform an
abstract job for a fixed payment. Implicit in salaried employment is
that the relationship between time worked and compensation is broken.
Rather, I am now compensated based on performance against a job
description. The employer is responsible for setting the
expectation. The employee is expected to meet that expectation.

I am currently at home, on a beautiful Saturday morning, typing on a
company-owned laptop, engaged in a conversation that has an abstract
relationship with my job description. Am I diluting my value to my
employer? I have Pandora running in the background now and sometimes
do at work as well. Is staying musically "informed" part of my job or
not?

Salaried employment is a complex relationship with expectations of
significant personal responsibility from both parties. The specific
relationship is entirely flexible and subject to negotiation. One
employer may chose to block all social networks. Another may consider
these essential to the well being or peak performance of their
employees. There is no "correct" answer to this question.

In may case, if my employer asked me to block access to social
networking sites (I am "IT" as well), I would probably start looking
for another job. They would not be "wrong." I just would not want to
work for them. And I'm pretty sure my employer would agree with that
position. ;)

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
todhopkins@hillmanncarr.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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