Welcome to the campaign

For years, I have opposed the business practice of blocking employee access to online content. Any online content. It’s not that I believe employees should spend worktime perusing Web porn. But I don’t believe that blocking access for any and every employee is the best way to address abuse. Additionally, a lot of the content companies are blocking — Facebook is a good example — can actually produce business value.

For some time, I’ve been thinking of launching a grassroots campaign in support of open employee access to the web. This blog, and its related wiki, represent the foundation of that campaign. It is based on the following core beliefs:

• Employees should be treated with trust. Trust builds commitment, which leads to engagement. It is nearly impossible to build a highly engaged workforce when the message is clear: “We don’t trust any of you as far as we can throw you.”
• Recruiting the best and brightest from the generation just entering the workforce will be easier if they can use the communication tools they have grown up using. With all other factors being equal, prospects will go to work for the company that embraces social media, not the one that blocks access to it.
• Companies should employ management by exception: Supervisors should be trained to identify individual employee abuse and then deal with it.
• Most employees will not risk their jobs to engage online in non-work-related activities. If they spend an hour reading entertainment-focused blogs, they will either stay an hour late (or come in early) to ensure their work is done, or they will do the work at home.
• There is untold wealth in much of the online content companies choose to block. In addition, the use of blocking software routinely blocks access to business-related content.

It is my hope that this blog and wiki will serve as a resource to help organizations make informed, rather than knee-jerk, decisions about providing online access to employees. You can help in a number of ways.

First, you can grab one of the graphics and include it — with a link to this blog — on your blog.

Second, you can contribute your thoughts and resources to the wiki.

Third, you can subscribe to this blog and comment on posts.

Thanks for your support and contributions. If this effort results in a single company deciding not to block web content, I will consider it a success.