International Law

It is foolish to ban Facebook at work

Techdirt reports on a study that comes to the very logical conclusion that employers should not ban Facebook at work:

Earlier this year, we pointed out that it was silly for companies to block Facebook at work, because it's merely a communications tool. It can be misused, but that would show up in the performance of the employee. Instead, embracing Facebook and recognizing that it's just a communications platform -- like the telephone or like email (both of which some companies wanted to ban when they first became popular), it can be a very valuable tool.

It's good to see a new study agreeing on that point and encouraging management execs to learn how to embrace social networking, rather than ban it completely:

They are part of the way in which people communicate which they find intuitive. Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact. Often people are friends with colleagues through these networks and it is how some develop their relationships.... Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability."

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).