How can this much slacking off go on, and why hasn’t management
stopped it? Because these workers look so busy! We see workers in their cubicles furiously typing away, and that looks like productivity. So much legitimate work is done online that it’s often hard to detect the new forms of work avoidance. In one minute, a worker can respond to an instant message from Cousin Jimmy, shoot a final bid to eBay, and be back to a legitimate work screen as the boss’s footsteps approach. What’s a manager to do?

Solving such a complex productivity problem requires a look not only at the worker but at the environment, the tools, and the anagement
that affect that worker. A permanent solution will probably require a combination of tactics.

Interventions
• Install “humane” monitors on company Internet systems. Companies have a great deal of control over what comes over their corporate intranet/Internet. At a minimum, firewalls can be installed that won’t handle the complex visuals of pornography or shopping catalogues. Monitoring software can filter out much of the non-work-related Internet activity. The more humane monitoring software is recommended, as it allows employees a limited degree of personal use. Do you really want to forbid Jill to check her personal email from her office or to zap Craig for setting up a tennis match after work? I don’t think so. Monitors can filter by word or content. Some simply identify a company’s biggest timewasting sites (Sims.com, Matchmaker.com, eBay) and block those. Eliminating these biggest drains on productivity offers an immediate jump in productivity. Employees are forced to log onto their favorites at home.

Also, when the buzz goes out that these top offenders have been removed, some employees will get the message that management is serious about curbing Internet abuse.

Taken From: 201 Ways to Turn Any Employee Into a STAR Performer