I disagree with Stephen Nowlin about having a written policy on computer
usage in the workplace.  I think it's necessary to protect both the employer
and employee.  I would bet that those 20 people who were fired recently for
inappropriate and "offensive" e-mails (in today's news) wish they had had a
written policy.

Generally, I think it's unfair to fire anyone for a single infraction of any
sort--I always feel everyone should be given a second chance.  I hate to see
anyone summarily fired for anything--all too often they become scapegoats or
are treated as horrible "examples" to strike fear into others.  I'd much
prefer to see written policies which guarantee miscreants an opportunity to
mend their ways after a warning.

On the employers' side, the lack of a written policy leaves them open to some
sort of civil rights lawsuit when someone is singled out for abuse of
privileges.  But also, I get tired of hearing the canard that "professionals"
don't need rules, and that museum workers in particular are the holiest of
professionals whose immaculate shoulders should be perpetually immune from
being looked over once in a while.  I think such an attitude represents
arrogance.  Computer use in the workplace is such a well-known source of
abuse that it's naive to assume that people are always doing business--even
in museums.  I certainly don't advocate a restrictive atmosphere in which
people are made to feel that the boss is ALWAYS checking up on them, and I
would never begrudge anyone a brief personal e-mail or occasional Solitaire
break while at work, but as addictive as personal Web-surfing and computer
games can be, I think it's wise to have some written guidelines about
appropriate computer use in the workplace.

I can state from personal experience that computer "abuse" can represent more
than just the abuser being unproductive and having his/her work suffer--it
can demoralize a whole office.  How would you feel when you go to pick up
your printouts from a  shared network printer and find that you have to sift
through very personal love notes, inane poetry, and even correspondence and
contracts from sideline businesses, just to locate your work-related stuff?
You can try to look the other way or pretend you don't see it, but it can
make you less productive.

You can even get carried away with low-priority but professionally-related
computer work, to the detriment of your high-priority projects.  Although I
don't resent my boss looking in on me occasionally to see what I'm up to,
eventually it occurred to me that  every time he did, I seemed to be sifting
through my Museum-L messages--so I decided I should do my listservs at home.

David Haberstich
(Not holier than thou, just trying to maintain a healthy perspective)

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