James, I hear ya. And glad to have the feedback. Security is a big concern for my stated mindset on employee PC use. I still lock these guys down to the 'T'. No admin rights, no USB drives during virus scares, no IM, OpenDNS block any porn, etc... Trust me, I have still done my fair share in alienating them. Curious, what size is your org? I haven't really felt all the struggles you mentioned... All photos are stored locally on their PCs, I just exclude My Music/My Pictures when I back up their machines. So it really takes up zero space on my servers. If they fill up their 100gb drives with MP3s, I tell them 'tough beens' and they have to trim down. Yes, my mailboxes are huge (2-11GB), but haven't found a reason why I should be bothered by it (even after DR drills). I have sifted through our email, and 99% of the bulk is work related [yes, they use our email for personal use] The only thing that I am erked out about lately is SMS usage. Yes, we also let our employees use their company provided cells for personal use. The minutes don't matter one dime, but SMS is started to take a toll. We used to get it free from Sprint, but not any more :( -Sam PS: If you can bear Minnesota winters, you have job ;) [Yeah, it snowed here yesterday - It's April]. I'm confident Rollouts will be alright through these tough times. ________________________________
From: James Rankin [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 3:45 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Time to relax content filters? You must have fantastic employees. Ours are far from that. When they did have access to every website on earth and could play music on their PCs, they didn't reciprocate with utter devotion. When we did block Facebook, I had customer service advisors phoning up at 8.05 asking why they couldn't get on it. When I did an audit of our file servers, I found 85% of our storage space was cluttered with mp3s, wedding photos, photos of their friends, joke programs, etc. I hate to think how much of our email storage is also full of non-work-related crap. our productivity is up massively since we went with thin clients, web filters, disk quotas and the like. We still allow quota time for Internet access to shopping and entertainment sites, etc. The environment is much more secure. A few weeks ago an unregulated internet cafe went in at one of our remote sites. The machines are now full of porn, so I have been tasked to secure the place and replace the PCs with thin clients. However, it is always different at different places - do you have any vacancies? :-) 2009/4/3 Sam Cayze <[email protected]> >>>>Unless you like paying people to work on there Facebook page and talk with there friends, etc etc rather doing the work they are supposed to be doing and getting paid for. [With all due respect / not trying to start an argument here, I am just passionate about this subject, and well, kinda enjoy it. The point is very valid, and I can see it's place at many organizations. But not across the boards...] Yeah, actually WE don't mind paying people to these things. Like I said before, our employees will bend over backwards for our company, 24/7/365. We have a very grey line between company time and personal time. The thing is, we have a dedicated work force that is more than happy to compromise their personal time after hours and help the company if needed. Whether they are at home after hours, on vaca, etc. Therefore, I feel a need to reciprocate the same treatment back to them during business hours. Treat your employees like humans, and they will give you amazing results. Personal lives should NEVER go on hold. Alienate your employees with robotic mandates (In this context: Facebook filters), and they will quit giving you 110%. iTunes on all machines, make your personal appointments on company time, 8am sharp does not exist... I could go on, and it's besides the point. Yeah, the perks here are great, but the way our workforce is whole heartily devoted to our company is priceless. These guys are great, and will do anything for us. It's not through chance or luck that we have great employees, it derives from the way we treat them. -Sam ________________________________ From: Rob Bonfiglio [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 4:13 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Time to relax content filters? Hold on, I'll answer you after I'm done updating my Twitter. On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 2:18 PM, Ziots, Edward <[email protected]> wrote: I think not, Facebook is personal stuff not to be done on company time. Unless you like paying people to work on there facebook page and talk with there friends, etc etc rather doing the work they are supposed to be doing and getting paid for. Z Edward Ziots Network Engineer Lifespan Organization MCSE,MCSA,MCP+I, ME, CCA, Security +, Network + [email protected] Phone:401-639-3505 ________________________________ From: Jonathan Link [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 1:55 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Time to relax content filters? ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
