I don't see the difference between personal emails and personal phone
calls, or two-hour non-business lunch breaks, or any other abuse of
professional behavior in the workplace.  Every now and then it can't be
helped, but too much and it's demoralizing to other employees ("how come
HE feels he's entitled to it and I feel I'm not?  Guess I'll start
too...").  I have a "professional" co-worker who not only makes and
receives tons of personal phone calls on work time, she receives
personal visits and feels it's OK to leave work early if her non-work
life gets a little hectic.  Not even
emergency-hectic-mother-in-the-hospital, just as a result of being
overcommitted.

We have a very liberal computer use policy (not written down, however),
nevertheless, one individual was fired in part for using the office
computer for personal tasks, email and chat, etc. to the detriment of
the job she was paid to do.  She was an evening worker (we are open
until 10pm) and was entrusted to keep the place running smoothly--this
activity kept her away from the desk and compromised security.

I guess the breaking point is, does it distract or demoralize the other
staff as well as interfere with assigned tasks and the job as a whole?
I don't believe it should be policed for its own sake, just monitored
against those (very reasonable) criteria.

Julia Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center

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