If you believe everything you read and see on TV, you would think that Americans spend every waking hour at their jobs – jobs which they are blissfully happy to still have, after all of the shenanigans that went on during the Panic of 2008. In some people’s cases, this may be true. Workaholics didn’t go anywhere over the past 2 years, except back to work. And that’s probably where they would have ended up going anyway. But it leads a non-workaholic to wonder about how much our employers really rule our lives, and how much they should let us relax from time to time.
This is almost a business ethics question: During breaks and other non-critical times at work, when everything is in a normal mode, is it okay to chill out for awhile and do some recreational computer browsing? Not to suggest that “recreational” use would include porn, updating a hate blog or shopping for a new automatic weapon, necessarily. Even though every one of those activities are totally American rights, they are a little too far out there for an office environment. But is it wrong for an employee who puts in long, arduous hours at the office to do more low-key, harmless things on their computers, as a way to unwind and get a little something done?
Is there any harm to the company if you check out some crazy YouTube video, or do a little blogging about that cute thing your hamster did yesterday? What about if you went online to do some early holiday shopping (yeah, it’s starting to get into that “calm before the storm” part of the year already). Would it be wrong to hit up your bank’s web site, make sure your credit cards are taken care of, and pay your auto insurance and whatever other bills you might have? There’s no harm.
