Over the years I’ve had many employees; some good and some bad.  I look for people who are self motivated and autonomous who live by their own rules.  I’ve been told I walk to the beat of a different drum so I guess I’m trying to duplicate myself.

As my business expands so do my responsibilities.  Because I’m stretched thin most of the time I can’t micromanage as I have in the past.  That’s best for my employees because I used to hate when a boss put me under a magnifying glass.  This week I found myself culling an underperforming employee and enforcing some rules.

I noticed some computers returning for silly mistakes that should have been picked up during the initial work.  Most were minor oversights, but some should have never been released.  With a bit of tracking I narrowed the issue to one employee and quickly found the reason.

My company has an open network, meaning anyone with access to the network can do pretty much anything.  Facebook, torrenting (downloading files), and just about anything imaginable can be accessed from any of my stores.  My company’s network usage policy states social media sites can be accessed after work is complete.

One night after work I created a set of rules within my routers that monitored usage during normal business hours.  After the stores closed and traffic reduced to 10%, an email was sent to me listing specific computers’ names and internet usage by time.

I tracked that employee’s day strictly by internet usage and made a fairly alarming discovery.  Facebook was the most accessed website followed by Youtube.  Most of this employee’s time was spent surfing personal websites.  Most frustrating, was the employee waited until I left.

A little research taught me some interesting statistics.  In companies which allow employees to use Facebook, 77% of employees take advantage.  Of those 77%, the clear majority had no legitimate business use.  The same study found productivity declined in companies that allow Facebook.

Another study I read asked potential employees if they would work at a company where Facebook was blocked.  Almost half of those asked, stated they would not work at a company that blocked Facebook.

So how does a small business owner combat Facebook and other internet usage?  My company has a written policy which this employee clearly disregarded.  I decided not to fire the employee and instead took a harsh step impacting everyone including myself.

I decided to block outbound traffic and requests to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, all torrent sites, and a handful of other questionable sites.  In addition I tossed in a handful of key words which employees shouldn’t be typing at work anyways.  I’ll leave those words to your imagination.  I figure the combination will limit personal surfing and keep my team focused on work.

As most service business owners know, rework is the worst type of work.  It costs a business more than labor when a customer returns with unsatisfactory work.  My company’s rework has nearly doubled within the past six months.  Though it would be easy to point fingers at one specific person, the prevalence of harsher viruses has also skyrocketed during the same period.

Breaking people’s habits is tough and scolding someone for not adhering to a loose policy is just as hard.  I made a decision which impacts everyone in the company with the hopes of increasing productivity.  I’ve never believed in managing this way, but sometimes it’s necessary.  I also created a reward system:  for every five stickers employees receive, they get one cookie during recess.  Employees, ugh!

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)