Your IT department is ruining your March Madness fun
 

Quickest way to being replaced or outsourced is trying to pull this shit in my company... You block March madness for the employees you can kiss your job and ass goodbye.

****ing IT Nerds.


http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_...ch-madness-fun

By Allison Linn
It happens in offices around the country, around this time of year.
There you are, squinting at your computer, pretending to be oh-so-immersed in that spreadsheet, but what you’re really doing is waiting for the boss to leave so you can get back to watching March Madness on the other screen.
But why won’t the game load?
Blame the ITdepartment.
A new survey finds that about two-thirds of ITdepartments take some sort of action to block, ban or throttle non-work streaming content, including the March Madness college basketball tournament.
When it comes to March Madness specifically, four in 10 admit they monitor employees who try to access March Madness on their computers, in order to protect the company’s network.
That’s according to a survey of about 500 ITprofessionals conducted this February on behalf of Modis, an IT staffing firm that is part of Adecco.
Let’s be fair to the IT folks. They aren’t necessarily trying to keep you from keeping tabs on your bracket during the work day, but they are trying to keep your network running.
According to the Modis survey, four in 10 respondents said streaming content from the annual basketball tournament has had some impact on the company’s network, such as slowing or even shutting it down.
Most IT professionals surveyed said they block streaming content to make sure everyone can do their regular work without network disruptions. But the majority also said they do so to keep people from getting too distracted at work.
It’s not clear how much March Madness, which begins March 11, really distracts people from getting their work done.
Challenger, Gray and Christmas this year poked fun at its own assessment of how much game time takes away from company time, and even admitted no one’s likely going out of business because of a basketball tournament.
The outplacement firm’s advice: As with most things, March Madness should be viewed in moderation. At least while you’re at work.

work is work time, not happy fun time

FYI, office pools are not legal in any state but Nevada...

At least according to one corporate security department I speak with. ROFL

I wouldn't mind letting people listen to radio broadcasts, or following live scoring, but CBS shows actual games online I think. People shouldn't be watching actual games at work.

How dare they expect people on their payroll to work instead of watching a ****ing basketball game.

stooooooooooooooopid

Use a damn sick day if you have to watch the games that bad.

Exactly

Has nothing to do with the IT nerds. It has to do with the people that run the company wanting you to do your ****ing job.

The IT folks' job is to keep the network running smoothly to ensure that people can get their work done. When lazy ****s are sitting around doing nothing, and using up gobs of bandwidth streaming shit that is against policy to access at work, then yes, we're gonna shut your ass down.

This is pretty much as straight forward as it gets:

If you wanna watch basketball instead of doing your job, then take a ****ing vacation day.

What if said company wants you to do your job at 3am on Saturday or 15 hours a day?

It's not as black and white as you think...

Your job is your job. They are paying you to work aren't they?

I think I read somewhere that tournament games won't be played at 3am this year.

Then you do your job at 3am on Saturday or 15 hours a day.... why would the time of day or length of shift make any difference?

If I'm a huge General Hospital fan, should I be allowed to watch it at work just because it's on at 1pm during my shift?

They pay me for results. What I do to get those results is my business. The ends justify the means.

No but if I'm working at 3am on Saturday, I'm NOT working at 3pm on Thursday afternoon.

The only way anyone should be watching TV at work is if the company allows it.

The fact that you mentioned your "shift" means you missed the point.

Employers expect more and more productivity, regardless of what personal sacrifices are made by the employee. When it comes time for said employee to "get a little back", the corporation puts the squash on it. At some point, there it becomes a diminishing return.

An unhappy employee base is not a productive employee base.

It's just as much about using company resources for non work related stuff as it is you producing your results in a timely manner.

If said employee is meeting their performance objectives and other employees are not being prevented from achieving theirs because of said employee, the company should stay out of it.

I make it a strict point to weed out general hospital fans in the hiring process and 80's all my childrens fans as well
**** TAD!

They don't want you to use company resources for non-work activity yet they want you to use your company resources 24x7x365. Get the trend there?

It's called balance. Give and take. But there's a reason so many of the Fortune 500 are corporate cesspools of greed, corruption, and employee morale issues.

LOL.

You're at work. Unless you get paid to watch TV, Movies, Sports, Netflix then its pretty clear how black an white it is. Do your job, check the scores on your phone.

I don't think that violating company policy by using company resources for non work related activities is the ideal way to keep an employee base happy. I think that sets a pretty poor example. A high end car dealership wouldn't let Joe Blow car salesman take a joyride in a Porche just because it would be a great way to keep him happy on the job.

My March Madness is already ruined thanks to the MTSU Blew It Again Raiders.

I am a little concerned that you know the name of one of the characters.

Yay?

I've worked undesirable shifts and hours, and I think most IT people would shrug if I told them I was missing a basketball game because of work. If I'm working 15 hours a day, I sure as hell don't have time to watch sports... if I'm working a night shift or whatever, there's a specific reason for being there. I have pretty flexible hours now, so whatever I don't get done while responding to this post, I'll get done when I get home or whatever, but I still wouldn't just sit at work and watch BB.

I think the only gray area is if it's during a time of low network usage, and it's generally okay to browse the internet or read a book or whatever during a shift... like IT support during off-peak hours or security or something. If it's not going to cause any network issues and your manager understands there's time when you won't be doing anything productive, I don't know why it would be an issue.

Get a DVR or take a vacation day/half day.

This affects me
















not.

ROFL

How is turning away from your PC to check scores on your phone preferable to checking them on your PC?

If it's not a company policy, then there's no violation is there? Again, it seems you've missed the point.

Not in my shop. And I'm planning my lab/break times to accomodate the KSU/KU fans on Thursday.

We embrace the Madness. Anyone not embracing the Madness will be nuthooked.

Don't work for Nazi companies.

I work with companies at both extremes - it's not a coincidence who the leaders are and who aren't...

Because checking scores on your phone doesn't use up unnecessary company bandwidth that is intended for work.

Streaming audio via my cellphone. I won't use the video...not worth it in this job market but streaming audio doesnt cut into my productivity nor into the company's bandwidth. 9% unemployment ...keep that in mind folks!

Bob Dole won't take any action until everyone's connection starts performing like 56k dialup.

This, and I'm glad I work for a company that lets me work this way!

Love my job.

It's still a hit to productivity. Moral equivalencies don't work here.

Either it's a waste of productivity or it's not.

Like I said, I consult for both types of company. It's not a coincidence who is largely successful and who isn't...

You probably should not have mentioned that part. :hmmm:

Whats more important:

Trying to preserve your companies bandwidth, resources and productivity, or letting employees play games on company time?

Anyone who has actually had the responsibility of purchasing and maintaining a complex network infrastructure for any reasonably sized organization wouldn't think twice about a decision like this. It's easy for the users to say "Throw us a little bone, it isn't hurting anything." All the while, they're sitting in front of a company computer loaded with company software using company bandwidth for doing something that is not work related and can be distracting from doing actual work.

Maintaining balance and a happy work environment is certainly important. But there are countless ways to do that which would conform to company policy and not set a precedent that could be abused later. Because I know from experience that if you give the users an inch, they'll expect to take a mile next time. If you say "Ahh it's OK, go ahead and watch the game this once.", then Judy McLazyass down the hall hears about it and justifies watching Judge Joe Brown, because Bob gets to watch basketball. Then it snowballs to the point of slowing the network down. And at that point, people begin bitching at IT because they don't have enough bandwidth. Which of course is also IT's fault.

This may seem to the common user to be something minor and would never actually cause any harm. But I can tell you from experience that it adds up very quickly.

One could de-prioritize CBS Sports streaming video in the network, allowing it to only consume X amount of bandwidth if no mission critical traffic is present, and not have to mandate anything to anyone.

Can they block people's personal cell phones? No? Well, there you have it.

Hard to blame a company for this.

It isn't always fun being my own boss but it works in these situations.

Our company bans video and audio streaming 365. So not an issue during MM.

However, as the manager for our disaster response for North America, none of it is blocked on my system. I have to be able to catch news casts and weather radio all over the continent. I still don't watch games online. I do, however, put up ESPN if CBS Sports scoreboard and check periodically.

Well said. Slippery slope....

Excellent post, well said.

If you accept their paycheck you accept their rules.

The point about the non-basketball fan is a good one though. If a user doesn't like basketball how do you explain to them that they can't recieve the same benifits that a basketball fan does? Do you let them watch whatever they want as well? Are they only allowed to do that during the time the NCAA tournament is on? What if what they want to watch is during a different time of day or time or year?

That slippery slope slides the other way too.

I spend 12-16 hours a day on a company computer. I don't HAVE to but I do because I don't like to be working on Monday's work on Thursday. I have FAR more than 8 hours worth of work come in on any given day.

If my company were to suddenly block Youtube, Chiefsplanet, or any number of other things, where am I at 5:15pm? NOT on my company computer, that's for damn sure.

But then again, my direct employer "gets it". For every couple of hours I spend every day surfing the Internet, I spend 4-6 hours of "unpaid overtime" doing work for them.

You can de-prioritize all streaming video (or audio) and then it's no longer a concern.

You're recommending implementing additional administration work to allow users to violate company policy to use company resources for non work related consumption of bandwidth. No thanks. Much easier and more efficient to simply block it. I've been a system administrator for nearly 10 years now, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that you don't let your users set the rules. Sorry if the user is sad that they'll miss a game on company time. But it's not IT's responsibility to provide happiness for its users by breaking policy for them.

You're assuming that there's a company policy to violate, that's why I keep saying you're missing the point.

Again, I consult for both types of company. I see an OVERWHELMING trend when correlating office atmostphere/policy, productivity, and corporate output (shareholder return mainly).

Many of the most succesful companies out there are the LEAST rigid when it comes to mandating employee policy.

**** watching it online, I have a TV stashed in my shop.

So you'd ask your IT admin to create a internet usage policy for video streams as well as set bandwidth limitations during peak times? As a network administrator, I'd remind you what the company network is used for.
I run in to these types of issues all the time -- I've allowed radio streams through our firewall but you'd be surprised at the blow our network takes every morning when people are firing up pandora at the same time.

This issue reminds me of a call I got last weekend (after hours) from a elected offical -- he was so upset that we had his computer locked down to where he couldn't download anything or make changes to his computer.. He needed to be able to plug his sky caddie in and download the latest course GPS information... This is the kind of shit I deal with every week. Can't make everybody happy and keep the network at 100% uptime with average latency all the time.

Leave the rule making (and enforcing) to management, and just do what they tell you to do.

use your vacation time you slackers

No problem here, boss bought us a new Mitsubishi 73" for the family room and installed a 20" in the office.

Bout time I got him to listen to me. :D

But people who don't own companies always know how to run companies better than those who do.

It's the evil corporations man :D

I am ordering more bandwidth from our ISP for the Month of March so our employees can make damn sure they can stream any game they want.


The poor IT guy about had a stroke. I told him its my company, not yours.. Deal with it..

Is this where I'm supposed to say

"DAMN, UR LIKE THE COOLEST BOSS EVER OR SUMTHIN!!!11!111"

Nah. Everyone knows it anyway.

Being in IT since 1995, I have grown weary of the controlling bullshit that IT people try to pull..


Hell I used to be one myself. Then I grew up and realized that being a total dick about the network wasnt really worth it.

Can I get a temp job with you for the month since profit and productivity don't matter during this time?

... but the boss said we could watch basketball, don't yell at me about the stupid tsp reports!


:)

Are you in need of a Business Analyst? :D

Only if your business is watching basketball.

I work for UHG, which has the most strict IT policy of any company I've worked at before. Wouldn't even get CLOSE to streaming that sort of stuff.

The nice thing about that was that it forced me to use vacation days for the Opening Round, and I enjoy the hell out of that (I'll be at Lew's or 75th St or Kennedy's for that again this year).

Of course, I work from home now... so I could get away with it. But it was so much fun watching games all day with buddies, I'm going to do that again, anyway.

I can watch basketball and analyze my brackets!

Nope, not after that comment.

Sorry I was just assuming due to the precidence you set. So work till pre-game starts... then **** off the rest of the day? I can do that!

I'll take a corner office please. 18' monitor should do. Can we drink beer?

Best. Job. Evvvarrrr!

This is why I took off 3/16 this year. If you want to watch that bad, just take the day off work.

Make sure you spell it right on your resume.

LMAO

I was thinking of our tsp... total sponsorship plan at work.

ROFL I gaurantee that you have more access than I do.

Only one monitor?

Hell most of us have at least 2 24's and some have 3 24's

no need to be moddest.... Also we stock the fridge with Boulevard Wheat...

Well I didn't want to come off too demanding since I'm not planning on getting much done haha. You're the boss though... I'll live with the better set up if that's what you insist on.

:)

If I, as an employer, am not willing to absorb the cost of operating such an environment, then no, I wouldn't.

It's all about priorities.

online is cool actually you have much more control over which game you want to watch

you have to know when the commercials are going to pop up tho because they wont let you change the channel during a commercial

Meh. Pretty simple. Put a TV in the break area. If you're on a break you can watch. If you're not on break, do your job. Unless you are getting paid to watch the games you're a whiny, self-entitled douche for complaining about it.